DOD is standing up its new Operationally Responsive Space joint office today at Kirtland AFB, N.M. New Mexico lawmakers announced earlier this month that Kirtland would be the site of the new office. Its first director will be Air Force Col. Kevin McLaughlin, who also serves as the commander for the Space Development and Test Wing at Kirtland.
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…