Not the first and won’t be the last describes the inactivation of 3rd Air Force at RAF Mildenhall, Britain. Numbered Air Forces around the Air Force have been making way for the new Warfighting Headquarters organizational element. (Read our article here.) US Air Forces in Europe has established its WFHQ at Ramstein AB, Germany, however, USAFE plans to keep a general officer—in this case, Maj. Gen. Paul Fletcher—in Britain as a senior US representative to Her Majesty’s government. Third Air Force’s presence in the United Kingdom dates to 1951, when USAF activated the command to fill the void left after Eight Air Force returned home after World War II.
NASA, SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance are all preparing to launch their next-gen rockets from Florida’s Space Coast, two of them before the year is out. One is expected to liberate the U.S. launch enterprise from its reliance on Russian-made RD-180 engines, while all three rockets could eventually carry astronaut crews.