The Air Force announced Jan. 2 that the airmen of the 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis AFB, Nev., who are known as the Lions, have won the 2008 International Test and Evaluation Association’s Special Achievement Award for extraordinary achievement in test and evaluation. “The Lions provided our combat air forces with the weapon systems they needed to find, fix, track, and destroy fleeting urban and fast moving targets,” said Lt. Col. Daniel Holmes, former commander of the unit. He continued, “Testing new aircraft, weapons and sensor upgrades is normally a three- to five-year process, but we tested and fielded several new systems in a matter of months.” The squadron conducts operational tests for new systems on A-10, F-15, F-16, and F-22 aircraft.
The White House announced its United States Space Priorities Framework in a document released concurrently with Vice President Kamala Harris' first National Space Council meeting. Listed among five U.S. priorities is to “defend its national security interests from the growing scope and scale of space and counterspace threats.”