The Air Force intends to identify new basing for tactical air control party and air liaison officer training since the current schoolhouse at Hurlburt Field, Fla., lacks the facilities to accommodate the increased demand for the specialties. Under the basing criteria, announced Wednesday, service officials will look at factors such as mission and training requirements, facilities and infrastructure, support capacity, environmental impacts, and cost, in identifying the candidate locations from the pool of Air Force and Army installations in the continental United States. “These criteria will help to ensure that all aspects for basing of this important training are considered,” said Kathleen Ferguson, USAF’s deputy assistant secretary for installations. Air Force officials anticipate releasing the list of candidate bases this summer. After that, a formal environmental impact analysis will begin and surrounding communities have the chance to provide input. (Randolph 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…