The 60th Operations Support Squadron, Travis AFB, Calif., has a new Radar Approach Control facility, replacing the old RAPCON with its 1950-60-vintage technology. The new approximately $4 million facility, unlike the old one that was some distance from the airfield control tower, is adjacent to the tower. Base officials say it is “state of the art” with interconnected, more automated coumputer system. “It will better enable our controllers to provide approach and departure control services in a more modern environment,” SMSgt. Martha Wilkinson, the RAPCON chief controller, told the Vacaville (CA) Reporter. The base is gearing up for the arrival of a C-17 mission, and the new facility is a key part of managing the base’s global mission requirements.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…