The Air Force’s Fiscal 2014 budget request includes $2.3 billion for science and technology projects—a slight increase from the service’s Fiscal 2013 request, David Walker, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for science, technology, and engineering told lawmakers this week. “This year’s budget request reflects a strong support for S&T from our leadership [even in] this challenging fiscal environment we find ourselves in,” said Walker in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee’s intelligence, emerging threats, and capabilities panel on April 16. “It is a balance across the warfighters’ needs for near-term, rapid-reaction solutions, mid-term technology development, and revolutionary far-term capabilities,” he added. Walker highlighted the Air Force’s efforts in the realm of cybersecurity, saying the Air Force Research Lab is leading efforts to draft a joint cyber S&T roadmap for the Defense Department that is using the Air Force’s Cyber Vision 2025 as a blueprint. (Walker’s written statement) (See also Air Force Requests $114.1 Billion in Fiscal 2014.)
The Department of the Air Force has selected Patrick Space Force Base, Fla., as the preferred location for Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM) headquarters—and hopes to start moving in by fall of next year.