Construction of the Air Force Technical Applications Center’s new headquarters complex is set to begin next spring at Patrick AFB, Fla. This will be the Air Force’s largest construction project within the United States, reported FloridaToday.com, citing Brig. Gen. Ed Wilson, Patrick’s base commander. “It’s a $150 million-plus project,” he said. AFTAC is the surveillance organization that monitors for nuclear weapon detonations worldwide and nuclear treaty compliance. Its new HQ complex will comprise at least three buildings and a parking garage. It will be located farther west on base property, at a greater distance to a busy public road than the current four-story headquarters building. The Air Force anticipates that the construction will be done by the end of 2012. AFTAC employs about 940 military and civilian personnel.
The Space Force is playing midwife to a new ecosystem of commercial satellite constellations providing alternatives to the service’s own Global Positioning Service from much closer to the Earth, making their signals more accurate and harder to jam.
