Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne told lawmakers last week that he believes the service needs to set up “another special program office” right next to the National Reconnaissance Office’s Chantilly, Va., headquarters so the Air Force and NRO can “share a career together.” The first order of business is for the Air Force, said Wynne, is to “restore the intellectual basis” by becoming “competent suppliers in the game.” He noted that the Air Force leadership planned to meet with NRO Director Don Kerr, DOD intelligence guru Stephen Cambone, and others to talk about how to “partner closer and reduce redundancies” in space launch, space operations, space oversight, space situational awareness, and other areas. That session was to take place March 3 in Colorado on the occasion of the retirement of the commander of Air Force Space Command, Gen. Lance Lord.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.