Air Force Space Command’s 4th Space Operations Squadron at Schriever AFB, Colo., has been envisioning for almost two years a method to get a mobile Milstar communications satellite command and control vehicle downsized so it would fit into a C-17 airlifter. It has succeeded, loading its ground mobile-3 vehicle onto a C-17 on Sept. 10. This means each deployment, which had been done via C-5, will drop in cost by more than $360,000. According to 1st Lt. Craig Cherek, with 4th SOPS, the idea piggybacked off work already done by the Colorado Air National Guard’s 137th Space Warning Squadron.
F-35As from the Vermont Air National Guard have deployed to Puerto Rico in recent days, continuing a major buildup of U.S. Air Force assets in Latin America aimed at combating drug trafficking and pressuring the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
