The Space Force is inching closer to getting an acquisitions chief. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said candidate interviews are underway for the space acquisition system secretary position and that he expects to make a recommendation to the defense Secretary and White House soon.
Two F-22 Raptors from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., touched ground at Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield for the first time Sept. 21, and, roughly 30 minutes later, they were gone. The brief visit demonstrated both Fort Drum’s capabilities to expand its airfield operations to support different types of aircraft, as well as the ability of 174th Maintenance Group Detachment 1 to facilitate rapid refueling and armament for unit training missions.
A tool created by an Air Force software factory played an important role in the recent evacuation of civilians from Afghanistan, according to the service. The tool, built by Kessel Run, a first-of-its-kind software factory within the military, provided information regarding real-time, theaterwide awareness of logistics for the evacuation operation, allowing for more informed decision-making.
Taiwan's air force scrambled again Thursday to warn off 19 Chinese aircraft that entered its air defense zone, Taiwan's defense ministry said, the latest uptick in tensions across the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese aircraft included 12 J-16 fighters and two nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, the ministry added.
Academy of Robotics and the Royal Air Force announced a new trial deployment of autonomous vehicles on an airbase as part of the RAF’s Astra campaign to deliver next-generation Air Force capability. This trial is the first time that autonomous vehicles have been deployed on a UK airbase by the RAF.
The U.S. Space Force has an acquisitions arm called the Space Systems Command. A separate Space Rapid Capabilities Office that procures classified systems and reports to the chief of the Space Force. The Space Development Agency and the Missile Defense Agency also oversee space procurement programs. And many satellite programs are also run jointly with the National Reconnaissance Office, a U.S. intelligence agency.
Florida’s aerospace agency has been working to bring a Space Force training site to the state after the command headquarters for a related military command landed in Alabama.
Melvin Van Peebles was a fierce, complicated, and iconoclastic filmmaker who didn’t release a lot of films in his life, but the ones he did complete had an outsized impact on the world. Van Peebles died Sept. 21, 2021, at the age of 89.