2009 Space Almanac

The Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program will not be delayed by the explosion of a building at Northrop Grumman’s Promontory, Utah, complex which makes solid rocket motors, the company said.

U.S. Air Forces in Europe is using one of its premier F-16 squadrons to develop and practice new tactics and weapons to counter drones. The exercise stems from the service’s experience in the Middle East, fighting off Iranian and Houthi attacks.

An April 16 explosion destroyed a building at Northrop Grumman’s Innovation Systems plant in Promontory, Utah, where the company makes solid rocket motors for the U.S. government and commercial rocket companies.

The top enlisted Airman in Air Force Special Operations Command, Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Green, was relieved April 14, but few details are available amid an ongoing investigation. 

The Air Force is still a few years away from getting its hands on its first E-7 aircraft for airborne early warning and control, but the service is already seeking industry input on new systems to either enhance or replace the sensor capabilities of the Wedgetail—or possibly even acquire new…

B-1Bs have landed at Misawa Air Base for the Air Force’s first ever Bomber Task Force rotation based in Japan, Pacific Air Forces and Air Force Global Strike Command confirmed.

As Space Force leaders grow more vocal and direct in calling for space weapons to control the domain, one official revealed last week that the Space Force has received a major upgrade to one of its few acknowledged space weapons. 

Hickham Air Force Base in Hawaii is trialing novel energy technology to provide electrical power and hydrogen fuel in the kind of isolated and austere outposts the Air Force will need in the Pacific theater for its new Agile Combat Employment way of warfare. 

B-1Bs from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, flew over South Korea with U.S. and Korean fighters on April 15, adding to the already robust USAF bomber presence in the Indo-Pacific.