The active duty 21st Space Wing and Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Airlift Wing, both headquartered at Peterson AFB, Colo., merged their command posts on Dec. 16, creating the integrated Peterson Installation Control Center. This move is part of an Air Force-wide initiative begun in 2007 to consolidate command posts where possible to save money and avoid unnecessary duplication of effort. “It makes perfect sense to have one command post on an installation,” said Col. Jay Raymond, 21st SW commander. The consolidation was roughly a year in the making, with representatives from both wings meeting regularly to iron out the details and train together. “For the taxpayers, for everyone, this is just the right thing to do,” said Col. James J. Muscatell, Jr., 302nd AW commander. (Includes Peterson report by Corey Dahl)
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China-focused military briefing Oct. 27, part of a biweekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonic weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…