The 60th Operations Support Squadron, Travis AFB, Calif., has a new Radar Approach Control facility, replacing the old RAPCON with its 1950-60-vintage technology. The new approximately $4 million facility, unlike the old one that was some distance from the airfield control tower, is adjacent to the tower. Base officials say it is “state of the art” with interconnected, more automated coumputer system. “It will better enable our controllers to provide approach and departure control services in a more modern environment,” SMSgt. Martha Wilkinson, the RAPCON chief controller, told the Vacaville (CA) Reporter. The base is gearing up for the arrival of a C-17 mission, and the new facility is a key part of managing the base’s global mission requirements.
The Space Force should take bold, decisive steps—and soon—to develop the capabilities and architecture needed to support more flexible, dynamic operations in orbit and counter Chinese aggression and technological progress, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
