The Air Force and its industry partners launched AEHF-3, the third Advanced Extremely High Frequency communication satellite, into orbit on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. An Atlas V rocket carried the satellite aloft, lifting off from Space Launch Complex 41 at 4:10 a.m., according to the Facebook page of the Space and Missile Systems Center.
The Air Force is planning to invest nearly $1.7 billion to continue modernizing the B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers over the next five years, revising earlier plans to retire those aircraft before the B-21 Raider is fielded in bulk.