The Air Force Satellite Control Network’s Colorado tracking station at Schriever AFB, Colo., commonly known as “Pike,” ceased frontline operations and transitioned to a backup tracking and test role. “As we go forward, Pike is going to continue to be important . . . for testing, troubleshooting, and contingency operations,” said Lt. Col. Scott Angerman, 22nd Space Operations Squadron commander, at Pike’s Aug. 3 cessation-of-operations ceremony. Since beginning operations in 1988, the space telemetry radar station tracked more than 300 US military and NASA space launches, including space shuttles, and made more than 180,000 contacts with orbiting satellites, according to an Aug. 7 Schriever release. The station made its final operational contact with a satellite—a GPS spacecraft—on July 9, states the release. The Air Force is removing Pike’s radar for reuse at the Thule tracking station in Greenland. (Schriever report by SSgt. Julius Reyes)
In a nighttime ceremony contrived to continue concealment of many of its features, the new B-21 bomber rolled out of Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, Calif. plant Dec. 2. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the aircraft's advanced technology represents "deterrence, the American way."