Retired Gen. Larry Welch, former Air Force Chief of Staff, was expected to brief Air Force Secretary Michael Donley Wednesday on the study that Welch has done regarding options for future space launch, including a potential way forward for the evolved expendable launch vehicle program. “He’ll bring in some ideas on how we can further stabilize our planning and acquisition of space launch vehicles,” Donley said during a speech on Capitol Hill Wednesday. Saying he was reluctant to steal Welch’s thunder by revealing “pre-brief” details, Donley would only hint that “recommendations for how to do that might involve bigger builds” of rockets.
REFORPAC, the large-scale exercise in the Pacific planned for summer 2025, will be on a scale unseen by the Air Force in recent memory: nearly 300 aircraft spread across 25 locations.