The 50th Operations Group at Schriever AFB, Colo., has demonstrated a new means to provide GPS data to tactical units every 15 minutes to aid in predicting dilution of precise position data; the GPS Readily Available Navigation Datalink, or GRAND, enables warfighters to receive the data via Milstar communication satellites. • The Lompoc Record reports that fencing and signs are to be installed along the public trail that takes hikers along Vandenberg AFB, Calif., to Point Sal Beach to keep them from straying onto federal land; the base and state reached an agreement last month, reopening the beach to hikers and bikers after the baseprohibited access last year because of safety concerns, particularly during launches. • Richard Frazier, one of the Civil Air Patrol’s new Volunteer Support to the Air Force participants, provided videotaping service to record the 309th Fighter Squadron change of command at Luke AFB, Ariz.; CAP began VSAP as a pilot program at two other bases earlier this year.
The Pentagon awarded a $2.02 billion contract for Lot 17 of F-35 engines to contractor Pratt & Whitney on June 5. Work on the F135 engine is expected to be completed by December 2025.