Col. Susan Desjardins, currently commander of the 437th Airlift Wing, Charleston AFB, S.C., will replace Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida as the commandant of cadets at the US Air Force Academy. Weida, who has been at the academy only a year and was cleared, just a month ago, of a charge that he had attempted to proselytize cadets, has been reassigned as the director of capability integration and transformation at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Air Force leaders have recommended Weida for promotion to major general. Desjardins, who is being nominated for promotion to brigadier general, graduated from the academy in 1980—the first class to include women.
A top Pentagon tech official called on industry this week to help the military develop “lighter, more efficient” directed energy weapons designed to go on aircraft and conduct special operations missions or down drones—areas where the Air Force’s directed energy efforts have been quiet as of late.