Maj. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski on Feb. 12 became the new commander of the Air Force Research Lab during a change-of-command ceremony at the National Museum of the United States Air Force on the grounds of Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. She replaced Maj. Gen. Curtis Bedke, who led AFRL since October 2007 and is formally retiring from the Air Force on April 1 after more than 30 years of service. “Our Air Force in 2010 depends upon scientific breakthroughs,” said Pawlikowski during the ceremony. AFRL’s mission, she continued, is to nurture the curiosity that leads to them. “The hunt is on,” she said. Pawlikowski spent nearly two years in the early 1990s at AFRL’s information branch in Rome, N.Y., and is no stranger to high tech, having led the Airborne Laser program from April 2000 to March 2005. (Wright-Patterson report by Mike Wallace)
House lawmakers unveiled a new reconciliation package July 15 with $60 billion for defense, $290 billion less than the Pentagon has been seeking, a day after a Senate vote to advance the annual defense policy bill failed—developments that show the perilous state of the Pentagon’s ambitious plans for fiscal 2027.