The Air Force had successfully launched 47 consecutive military payloads, noted Lt. Gen. Mike Hamel, commander of Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center. Speaking Friday at AFA’s Space Symposium, Hamel said that another launch was scheduled for that day. Shortly thereafter at the symposium, Roger Krone, president of Boeing’s network and space systems, confirmed that the 48th launch had indeed taken place as scheduled. A Boeing Delta II at 2:12 p.m. EST on Nov. 17 boosted the Lockheed Martin-built Global Positioning System Block IIR-16M satellite into orbit from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. It was the second replenishment GPS boosted into orbit this fall.
In written testimony to the Senate, the nominee to oversee the Air Force’s installations and energy enterprise endorsed the continued privatization of military housing and called for the department to think more during the acquisition process about how it will power new weapons systems when the logistics supply chain is…


