The Air Force is changing its training and creating a “cultural shift” in its space domain to prepare for possible future conflicts that could threaten America’s assets in orbit, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said. “We are going to start treating space the way we treat everything else in the US military,” James said on Jan. 14 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. “We need to get our heads around the fact that one day there could be a conflict on Earth that, in some way, bleeds into space.” To prepare, the Air Force is shifting resources and experimenting on how it can train to defend its constellation of satellites, much like the service trains to protect its assets in other domains, James said. She said investments and tests by China and Russia are spurring the military to better protect its satellites. (See also: Defending the Space Domain.)
Airmen and Guardians in the Active and Reserve component, as well as civilian employees, in “mission critical and high-risk populations” are now required to receive influenza vaccinations annually to “preserve force readiness,” according to a recent Department of the Air Force memo.