Maj. Gen. Ronnie Hawkins will assume command of the Defense Information Systems Agency next Wednesday during a ceremony at Fort Meade, Md., the agency's headquarters. He will receive a third star for this new assignment. Hawkins has been deputy director of command, control, communications, and computer systems on the Joint Staff since last July. He was DISA's vice director from September 2009 up until then. Hawkins will replace Army
Lt. Gen. Carroll Pollett, who led DISA since December 2008. Pollett is retiring after a 37-year military career. DISA is a combat support agency that provides real-time information technology and communications support to the President, vice president, Defense Secretary, military services, and combatant commands. (DISA
release)
Air Frame: Year in Review, February 2011: The Air Force on Feb. 24, 2011, selected Boeing's 767-based NewGen Tanker, shown here in an artist's rendering, to replace the service's oldest KC-135s starting late in this decade. The new tanker is now designated the KC-46A. Also in February, the New START agreement entered into force with Russia, with the goal of reducing US and Russian strategic nuclear forces to unprecedented levels. In mid month, President Obama asked Congress to provide $671 billion for the Defense Department in Fiscal 2012. The Air Force portion, including plans to field a new bomber in the mid 2020s, amounted to $166.3 billion. The Pentagon also released a new National Military Strategy and new National Security Space Strategy. The C-17 became the Air Force's first platform certified to operate unconstrained on fuel blends containing biofuels. Boeing illustration