The widow of a contractor killed during a friendly fire training incident at the White Sands Missile Range in 2017 sued the Air Force for $24.6 million in damages. The family's lawyer told Military.com they settled for less than that, saying only it was “enough to take care of them for the rest of their lives.” Retired Master Sgt. Charles Holbrook, a former tactical air control party Airman, was killed on Jan. 31, 2017, when an inexperienced F-16 student pilot strafed the wrong target during a live fire nighttime training mission, hitting Holbrook in the head with a 20mm round from his Vulcan cannon and blowing up a nearby civilian rental car, according to court documents filed in the United States District Court of New Mexico earlier this year. A military member also was injured, according to the accident investigation board report.

The U.S. Space Force is trying to figure out what “readiness” means for space operations, seeking to sever itself from the Air Force’s aircraft- and deployment-centric model. The Air Force’s Air and Space Expeditionary model doesn’t work as a measure of Space Force readiness, Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber, and nuclear, said in an AFA Mitchell Institute virtual event Oct. 16. Readiness assessments “never had the same flavor, because we never had to pick up and go somewhere and join in a fight,” he said. Today, it boils down to, “do you have enough people to man your consoles 24 hours a day? That is one small, but important piece, of what readiness is” for Space Force.

The Space Force is already thinking about future spaceplanes and other platforms that will succeed those now in service, though the near-term focus will be on making existing capabilities more resilient, Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber, and nuclear, said in an AFA Mitchell Institute virtual event Oct. 16. The two X-37B reusable unmanned spaceplanes that have collectively amassed years in orbit conducting operational and technological experiments will likely not be replaced with something just like them, Saltzman said. Although lessons learned from those systems will “live forever,” the Space Force is looking for a brand new capability moving forward.

The Air Force wants to procure up to 2,000 more Female Body Armor units for Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve security forces Airmen. The modular, scalable body armor system is designed specifically for women’s bodies, and will protect female defenders against fragmenting munitions, handgun, and small arms threats, with a four-tiered system that allows protection levels to be tailored to different missions, according to a federal contract announcement.

On March 23, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies will host a virtual Nuclear Deterrence Series event featuring Scowcroft Group Principal Frank Miller. At a time when nuclear modernization programs are accelerating around the world, proposals to recapitalize the U.S. nuclear arsenal are at the forefront of debates over defense spending. Miller will share his insights into the prospects for U.S. nuclear modernization programs and the value of nuclear deterrence in today's competitive security environment. The think tank will post event video on its website and YouTube page after the live event.