Air Force officials launched construction projects last week at Kadena AB, Japan, and the Air Force Research Lab’s research site in Rome, N.Y. Kadena officials on Aug. 10 held the groundbreaking for the new Erwin Professional Military Education Center that will bring the base’s NCO academy and airmen leadership school under one roof when completed in May 2010. On Aug. 12, officials with the AFRL’s Information Directorate held a ceremony in Rome to mark the start of construction to add 28,000 sq. ft. to the directorate’s existing complex and alter an additional 18,600 sq. ft. of existing facilities to accommodate new laboratory and support facilities. (Kadena report by report by TSgt. Rey Ramon and Wright-Patterson photo caption.)
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…