Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz has assigned Maj. Gen. Michael Carey to be the new commander of 20th Air Force at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., announced the Pentagon. The numbered air force oversees the nation’s three Minuteman III ICBM wings, one of which is located at F.E. Warren. Malmstrom AFB, Mont., and Minot AFB, N.D., host the other two. Carey currently serves as the deputy director of command, control, and nuclear operations on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. He will replace Maj. Gen. Donald Alston, who has led 20th AF since July 2010. As Alston has, Carey, as 20th AF commander, will also head US Strategic Command’s Task Force 214 that provides on-alert, combat-ready ICBMs to the President.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
