All Minuteman III launch control centers now have received planned modifications, moving them into the so-called minimum essential emergency communications network. The $250 million project, executed by Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass., eliminated Minuteman’s 1962-vintage survivable low frequency communications system. The new system helps ensure the LCCs can “receive Presidential directives throughout the full spectrum of nuclear conflict,” said 1st. Lt. John Gould, network program manager. The new set-up includes connections to the hardened Milstar satellite.
Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts have increasingly noted the challenging long-term trends the service will face in enticing young Americans to sign up—decreasing eligibility to serve, less propensity to do so, and less familiarity with the military. But while those same leaders say there’s no “silver…