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.
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.