Air Force Secretary Michael Donley has designated the USAF undersecretary position—currently occupied by Erin Conaton—as "the senior Air Force official for space matters" at the headquarters level. This includes being the focal point for planning, policy, strategy, international relations, space interagency relations, and interfacing with the Office of the Secretary of Defense on space matters, Donley wrote in a memo issued Thursday. There is one exception: space acquisition oversight shifts from the undersecretary's office to the purview of USAF's assistant secretary for acquisition, thereby consolidating all service acquisition functions—space and non-space—under one office, according to the memo. These changes are among the senior-level realignments that Donley has ordered following a review of USAF's headquarters space functions (see below). Conaton, in her post since March, is already playing the leading role in USAF's energy matters. (DOD release) (Donley memo) (Space management review)

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley is establishing an Air Force Space Board to coordinate the service's space activities. "This board will serve as the overarching forum to integrate acquisition, international affairs, plans, requirements, operations, and training efforts related to space," he wrote in a memo issued Thursday. The Air Force undersecretary will be co-chair of the board, along with the USAF vice chief of staff. The head of Air Force Space Command and other senior Air Staff and Air Force Secretariat officials will sit on the board. The Donley memo outlines USAF's headquarters-level realignment to streamline space oversight functions following a comprehensive review that Donley directed last December. This review found space functions to be fragmented, leading to confusion over roles, responsibilities, and relationships. Another change is making the Air Force undersecretary the lead for space matters at the headquarters level, except for acquisition. (Space management review)

Retired Gen. T. Ross Milton, who led the second bombing raid on Schweinfurt, Germany, in October 1943, and the first successful daylight strike on Berlin five months later, died from a stroke Tuesday in Oro Valley, Ariz. He was 94....

Undersecretary of the Air Force Erin Conaton asked industry members at the Nevada Energy Forum in Las Vegas this week to help the Air Force in its search for new ways of incorporating alternative energy solutions into USAF’s mission. “We...

The Spirit of Global Reach, one of the Air Force’s C-5M transports from Dover AFB, Del., on Thursday flew a massive $2 billion antimatter detector from Geneva, Switzerland, to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, for its ride into space...

Roughly one-third of airmen at Aviano AB, Italy, failed the Air Force’s new fitness assessment in July. Out of 319 airmen who took the test, 104—or 32.6 percent—didn’t pass. TSgt. Adam Salonish, Aviano’s fitness assessment cell noncommissioned officer in charge,...

The Defense Department is as committed as ever to bringing home the thousands of US military personnel who remain missing in action from the Korean War and other conflicts, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michelle Flournoy said Thursday. “Your loved...

The Space Logistics Group at Peterson AFB, Colo., has passed its first-ever compliance inspection. The unit received an overall grade of “in compliance with comments,” meaning that its airmen were doing their work properly. “These inspections are rigorous, thorough, and...

Thirteenth Air Force held a civil engineering summit at JB-Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for mid-level officers from 14 regional Asia-Pacific partner nations. The subject-matter exchange was meant to enhance regional partnerships and promote interoperability among the participating nations. “This forum allowed...

Construction activities have begun at Bradley Air National Guard Base in East Granby, Connecticut, to erect the new building that will house the air and space operations center run by the 103rd Airlift Wing. Under BRAC 2005, the Air Guard...

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, Aug. 18-19, 2010 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 55 131 186 16,422 CAS/Armed Recon 30 193 223 22,151 Airlift 341 341 40,163 Air refueling 114 114 10,794 Rescue 47 47 4,992 Total...