Montana’s two Senators, Sen. Max Baucus (D) and Sen. Jon Tester (D), announced Tuesday that more than $17 million in upgrades eyed for Malmstrom Air Force Base were approved as part of the previous day’s mark-up of the President’s Fiscal 2010 budget proposal by the Senate Appropriations Committee’s military construction and veterans affairs panel. The full committee had not yet voted on the measure. If these improvements are included in the final version of the MILCON appropriations bill, Malmstrom would receive $9.6 million to upgrade a weapons storage area with new explosive storage igloos and maintenance facilities and $7.6 million to create a new armed forces reserve center, according to the Senators’ joint release. “These projects will enhance our ability to conduct our vital mission here at Malmstrom,” stated Col. Michael Fortney, commander of Malmstrom’s 341st Missile Wing, in the release.
After years of describing to lawmakers and Pentagon leaders the nature of that threat and the key role spacepower plays in deterring conflict in the domain and enabling the rest of the joint force, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman told reporters during AFA’s Warfare Symposium here that the message appears to…