Members of the 603rd Air and Space Operations Center inaugurated their new 60,800 square-foot command facility at Ramstein AB, Germany. The new building provides the center’s 400 personnel with 553 workstations, 1,500 computers, and 40 communication systems to execute their mission of monitoring the airspace above Europe and Africa and overseeing US military air operations in those areas. Engineers broke ground on the facility in 2008, completed the building’s structure last summer, and finished final integration this year. Gen. Mark Welsh, US Air Forces in Europe commander, oversaw the AOC’s ribbon cutting on Oct. 7. Earlier this year, the Air Force announced plans to merge its two European AOCs—the 603rd AOC supporting US European Command and the 617th AOC supporting US Africa Command—as an efficiency measure. (Ramstein report)
Lockheed Martin is withdrawing personnel who support Iraq’s F-16 fleet from a major operating base because of threats from militias in the region, a step that will likely limit the fleet’s operations. The move comes after contractors left Balad Air Base in recent months because of the threat from Iranian-backed…