John Truesdell, USAF’s deputy assistant secretary for reserve affairs, told the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves that the Air Force’s Total Force Integration is “unprecedented” and “critical to meeting the challenges of competing resource demands, an aging aircraft inventory, and emerging missions with unique capabilities.” Truesdell also testified, “There is nothing conventional about TFI.” The Air Force believes, he continued, that TFI “decision-making is an inclusive process” where “all stakeholders have a voice.” Despite this new dawn for the Total Force, some lawmakers and governors still believe their concerns about the Air National Guard are getting short shrift. Still, there may be hope that the National Guard Bureau and USAF have forged a better relationship.
The Space Development Agency has already awarded contracts for most of the satellites that will form the beginnings of its massive planned constellation in low-Earth orbit, and on May 26 the agency awarded a deal for the ground systems to go with it. General Dynamics Mission Systems won the contract,…