The record of decision for the precedent-setting land management strategy developed for the Barry Goldwater Range has been signed. According to Teresa Walker of the 56th Range Management Office at Luke AFB, Ariz., it took seven years and an act of Congress. Jim Uken, 56th RMO director, says the Goldwater Range Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan is one of several being prepared within DOD, but its “scope and complexity … is clearly at the upper end of the spectrum.” The Air Force and Marine Corps share responsibility for eastern and western portions of the range, respectively.
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…