Tomorrow, the first Air Force Week of 2009 kicks off in Hampton Roads, Va., near Langley Air Force Base. It runs through April 26th. Air Force Weeks began in 2006 to celebrate the service and its people, get the word out on the work of airmen and the tools they use, and connect more closely with local communities. The Hampton Road festivities include a four-day Air Force exposition, ceremonies honoring veterans and employer support of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, a joint airpower demonstration with flyovers, a senior leadership discussion on the future of air, space and cyber power, and the two-day Airpower over Hampton Roads air show at Langley. (Full schedule) The second Air Force Week of 2009 will take place in Salt Lake City at the start of June, and this year’s third and final Air Force Week will be held in Sacramento, Calif., in early September.
The U.S. military is doubling down on non-space-based alternatives to GPS, the ubiquitous position, navigation, and timing service provided by the U.S. Space Force, with new funding for the development and testing of operational prototypes of quantum-based devices that don’t depend on easily jammable signals from satellites.