The Air Force’s launch schedule is filling up fast as new capabilities come online. In an effort to maintain efficiencies and prevent unnecessary delays, Air Force Space Command is reworking the way it schedules launches, said Gen. Robert Kehler, the command’s boss, in his Friday address at AFA’s Global Warfare Symposium in Los Angeles. Instead of scheduling just one launch, command officials are looking to “keep multiple contenders” in line to ensure that they don’t lose a coveted launch spot if a program experiences delays, he said. “The days of playing schedule roulette are over,” asserted Kehler.
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…