The Florida Air National Guard plans a ribbon cutting ceremony on June 1 to formally open the new state of the art, $30 million air operations center at Tyndall AFB, Fla. The ANG’s 601st Air Operations Group will manage the 37,000-square-foot facility, dubbed America’s AOC, which provides air tasking orders and strategic direction for the Continental US NORAD region. Switching from the Southeast Air Defense Sector mission to the AOC mission was the culmination of about four years work.
Since President Donald Trump first unveiled his “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative in late January, much of the focus for it has been focused on space—how the Pentagon may deploy dozens, if not hundreds, of sensors and interceptors into orbit to protect the continental U.S. from missile barrages. But the Air…