Each of the Air Force’s three Minuteman III missile wings last week successfully passed a no-notice limited nuclear surety inspection conducted by officials with Air Force Global Strike Command, their new overseer. AFGSC wasted no time in assessing the readiness of its newly subsumed units (90th Missile Wing, at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo.; 91st MW at Minot AFB, N.D., and 341st MW at Malmstrom AFB, Mont.), conducting the inspections starting on Dec. 8, only one week after assuming responsibility for them from Air Force Space Command. Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, AFGSC commander, said inspections will be “a big part” of how the command conducts business. “These initial inspections are a way for us to gauge two things—both our own ability to carry-out inspections as a new command and to gauge our readiness to properly carry out the mission at our three missile wings,” he said. (Barksdale release)
In the Space Force’s push to increase its consumption of commercial satellite capabilities, satellite communications stands out as the template. The question now is how broadly the Space Force will look to leverage additional SATCOM providers.