Col. Michael Vaughn, head of 20th Air Force operations, said that if you asked the missileers how they felt about changing to 72-hour shifts in October, they “wouldn’t have been very happy.” (See two items above.) Now however, most are looking forward to the greater schedule predictability the change will bring—something made possible through “protected time off” when missileers return from their three-day shifts. AFSPC plans to convert every missile squadron to the new schedule during April.
The Space Force has selected an initial pool of vendors that will compete to build sensors and satellites that track airborne targets, as Pentagon officials push to transform the capability from a prototyping effort to an operational one.