The Air Force has tasked Air Force Space Command to launch a service-wide encroachment management initiative, using two AFSPC bases—Buckley in Colorado and Patrick in Florida—as the first demonstration facilities. During the demo, the bases will identify, communicate, manage, and take action on encroachment issues that may affect their missions, working from the local to the federal levels. Each base will develop an installation complex encroachment management action plan, or ICEMAP, with assistance from Marstel-Day LLC, an environmental consulting firm. According to the Air Force release, service officials selected AFSPC to lead this initiative because the command already has established command- and installation-level encroachment prevention committees and leads the service in electromagnetic encroachment planning. It noted, too, that service leaders were fulfilling a commitment to former Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado, who led a push for DOD to focus more on encroachment.
The Air Force is moving forward with a new, algorithm-driven system to help U.S. Northern Command better detect airborne threats. NORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which are tasked with protecting the homeland from attack, depend on a slew of radars and other data systems to monitor U.S.…