The new boss of Air Force Space Command, Gen. Robert Kehler, is spending some time in Southwest Asia, getting a first-hand look at space forces in the US Central Command area of responsibility. He calls such interaction “critical” since space-force members are “synchronizing and integrating with ground forces and providing everything from weather forecast and satellite images to improvised explosive device detection.” Kehler was at the Combined Air and Space Operations Center when he said, “Every mission, every raid, in the AOR involves our space assets, many of which are located or controlled right here in the CAOC. He was talking about space professionals in theater and in the US of all the services when he added that US military space professionals “bring a capability to our military that no other can match.” (CENTAF report by TSgt. Joel Langton)
A record investment in research and development by the Department of the Air Force will help the United States win the long-term technology race with China, even while shrinking the fleet size before a possible mid-decade Taiwan contingency, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said May 17. “With the Air Force,…