The 1st Air Force Air and Space Operations Center at Tyndall AFB, Fla., has undergone many upgrades since 9/11, speeding up the process of identifying aircraft entering the US and flying within the country. One prime addition are radios that enable operators to contact all FAA and military agencies in a matter of minutes, said MSgt. Lynn Boop, superintendent of standards and evaluations for NORAD’S Southeast Air Defense, managed by the largely all-Air National Guard 1st Air Force. Additionally, an FAA representative sits on site. By centrally locating the necessary agencies in one place, officials say the AOC can track, locate, and intercept a suspicious aircraft within minutes.
The Space Force is playing midwife to a new ecosystem of commercial satellite constellations providing alternatives to the service’s own Global Positioning Service from much closer to the Earth, making their signals more accurate and harder to jam.
