Spears to Take No. 2 Spot at SOUTHCOM: Air Force Maj. Gen. Glenn F. Spears has been named to become deputy commander of US Southern Command, headquartered in Miami. Spears, who is the Air Staff’s director of force management policy, graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1978 and is a command pilot with more than 3,400 flying hours in various aircraft, including B-1B, B-52, KC-135, and MC-130H. He will replace Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard A. Mentemeyer, who plans to retire July 1.
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…