Air Force Space Command merged its program offices for space-based missile warning and defense weather systems into a new, single entity, announced Space and Missile Systems Center officials. The newly activated Remote Sensing Systems Directorate “will accelerate the pace of warfighter support through innovation, while realizing efficiencies to keep our space systems affordable,” said SMC Commander Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves in the April 15 release. “By merging two world-class acquisition teams, we intend to deliver ground-breaking new products and leverage existing and planned … platforms to create more affordable and resilient capabilities,” added Col. Mike Guetlein, director of the new organizations at Los Angles AFB, Calif. RSSD essentially brings together management of the mission areas for overhead persistent infrared surveillance and for space and terrestrial weather monitoring.
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…