CMSgt. Steve McDonald earlier this month replaced CMSgt. Brooke McLean as Pacific Air Forces’ command chief. McLean, who was PACAF’s top enlisted airman since October 2009, is retiring from the Air Force after nearly three decades of service, according to a Nov. 27 command release. His career began in June 1983 with an assignment as a military pay specialist with the 1st Space Wing at Peterson AFB, Colo., according to his biography. PACAF officials held McLean’s retirement ceremony on Nov. 16 at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. McDonald comes to Hickam from the Pentagon, where he had served since September 2011 as chief of Air Force enlisted force development. (Hickam photo captions by TSgt. Jerome S. Tayborn)
A new White House policy calls for the Pentagon to craft plans for additional space launch facilities to support a projected increase in launch demand that could see the U.S. supporting as many as 1,000 launches by 2030, more than a fivefold increase from 2025.