Airmen with Air Force Space Command’s 1st Space Operations Squadron at Schriever AFB, Colo., picked up responsibility for the latest Global Positioning System satellite—GPS IIR-M 15 launched Sept. 25 aboard a Delta II from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla.—after booster separation. The 1st SOPS airmen plan to guide it into permanent orbit, where it will circle the Earth every 12 hours, before they hand it over next week to its permanent minders with the 2nd Space Operations Squadron, also at Schriever.
Boeing received a $2.47 billion Air Force contract Nov. 25 for 15 more KC-46s, bringing to 183 the number of Pegasus tankers on contract to all customers, foreign and domestic. The new contract—for Lot 12 of the initially planned KC-46 buy—is to be completed by 2029.
