USAF says it is on track to launch in November the third of three satellites in the current Defense Meteorological Satellite Program constellation. Officials at Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., expressed their optimistic review in a July 20 release. The overall DMSP program has been around for some five decades. It is a key part of USAF’s efforts to track global weather conditions for the Pentagon and civilian agencyes. SMC designs, builds, and maintains the fleet.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told lawmakers Apr. 30 that the service’s biggest airlifter, the C-5 Galaxy, has a 37 percent mission capable rate—one of several challenges facing the mobility fleet.