Air Force Capt. Kirk Riggs of the 16th Special Operations Wing, Hurlburt Field, Fla., will receive the inaugural Florida National Defense Space Award on Nov. 17 at the closing of the Florida Space 2005 conference at the Kennedy Space Center. The National Space Club Florida Committee created the award to recognize significant achievements made by DOD personnel while on duty in Florida. The committee chose Riggs for his development of a Web-based Global Positioning System communications planning tool that allows special operations aircrews to hit targets accurately over enemy territory. The Air Force selected Riggs to write up the procedures in Air Force Doctrine.
Control of the skies in Operation Epic Fury is enabling the Pentagon to rely more on satellite- and laser-guided bombs, throttle back on expensive long-range standoff munitions, and move to a new phase of air war, defense officials said on March 4. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen.…