Work has begun at New Boston AFS, N.H., to erect a modern remote satellite-tracking system for the 23rd Space Operations Squadron. Honeywell is the contractor leading this effort, which the Air Force calls the New Hampshire Tracking Station B-side Remote Tracking Station Block Change, or NHS-B RBC, project. Air Force officials expect the squadron to take ownership of the new tracking system by January 2014. This RBC is the seventh one that the Air Force is adding to its global satellite control network. Workers will construct a new ring wall and inflatable radome that will enclose a 13-meter antenna. The new system will stand on the site of the former 60-foot antenna that began operations at New Boston in 1961 and was demolished last year. The ground-breaking ceremony for the new system took place on July 21. (New Boston report by Capt. Jessica Schroeder)
Pentagon officials overseeing homeland counter-drone strategy told lawmakers that even with preliminary moves to bolster U.S. base defenses, the military still lacks the capability to comprehensively identify, track, and engage hostile drones like those that breached the airspace of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days in December…