Retired Col. Francis Kane, a leader in the development of Global Positioning System satellites, was inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame during a ceremony March 2 at Lackland AFB, Tex. More than 150 family and guests watched as Maj. Gen. Richard Webber, 24th Air Force commander, unveiled a portrait of Kane that will hang in the hall of fame, which is located at Peterson AFB, Colo., and honors those who have made lifetime contributions to the Air Force space program. Webber said Kane, the hall of fame’s 50th inductee, is someone who “has influenced life as we know it, not only in military operations, but in all areas.” Among his contributions, Kane led the Air Force’s nascent navigation satellite program in the late 1960s. He is currently president of the Schriever Institute in San Antonio. (Lackland release)
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…