Air Force Reserve Command’s 920th Rescue Wing and the active duty 45th Space Wing, both headquartered at Patrick AFB, Fla., officially merged their two command posts into a single joint operation on May 20. The union, for which officials from both organizations began preparing in October 2007, will serve as a test case for combined active duty-Reserve command post operations across the service. “Personnel and equipment are expensive to maintain,” said Lt. Col. Rex Meyers, 920th RW command post superintendent. “Ultimately, it’s more advantageous to the government to create one command post at each installation.” (Patrick report by SSgt. Heather Kelly)
The Pentagon announced new long-term agreements with four defense companies May 13 to develop and produce large numbers of low-cost cruise missiles. And while the effort will focus mostly on the Army to start, it pairs with Air Force efforts to find more affordable munitions.