Members of the Montana Army National Guard, working with airmen from Malmstrom Air Force Base, used a CH-47 helicopter on Aug. 21 to bring four microwave antenna dishes to the peak of Highwood Baldy Mountain, about 40 miles northeast of Great Falls. They will be installed on a 100-foot communications tower already lifted there in pieces. The tower is part of Air Force Space Command’s wide area coverage project that will provide modern land-mobile radio communications to Malmstrom’s 341st Missile Wing and local communities, including law enforcement and first responders. The tower will provide coverage for the entire vast missile field that contains the wing’s 150 Minuteman III ICBMs, one third of the nation’s land-based strategic nuclear deterrent force. “We must be able to talk with each other to protect the mission,” said David Hinds, project manager within Malmstrom’s 341st Communications Squadron. (Malmstrom report by SSgt. Eydie Sakura)
The Air Force plans to have its new Integrated Capabilities Command stood up by the end of 2024, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said May 2, offering new details of one of the signature reforms announced by the service earlier this year. Allvin said around 500-800 Airmen will…