Colorado Springs, Colo. The Air Force’s Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center has a new name, and a shorter acronym. The mission is now known as the National Space Defense Center, Brig Gen. John Shaw, the deputy director of global operations at US Strategic Command, said Tuesday at the 33rd Space Symposium. The change was initiated “so that everybody can understand finally? what it is,” said STRATCOM chief Gen. John Hyten, only half joking, in testimony delivered before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. Shaw said the NSDC will continue to be focused on preparing for a “fight that extends into space.” While leaders have been reluctant to talk specifically about its activities, no matter what the operation is called, Hyten told SASC, “we put a bunch of smart people in a room with a bunch capabilities and said, ‘Figure out how to go faster.’ And it’s amazing how fast they have been able to go when you break down all the barriers.” Shaw said cross-agency work is crucial to the NSDC mission, and that it works with “everything the broader interagency can bring to bear” on the defense of space.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.