The Air Force says it successfully launched a Delta II rocket carrying an Italian radar satellite into space Oct. 24 from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. “People don’t always think about it, but this is rocket science, and our airmen and industry partners make it look easy,” Col. David Buck, commander of Vandenberg’s 30th Space Wing and the spacelift commander for this mission, said in a release from the base yesterday. Impressively, the airmen of Space Launch Complex 2 were able to conduct this mission just six weeks after completing the launch of the GeoEye-1 imagery satellite in September. SLC-2 crews have traditionally had about three or four months between missions.
Bell Textron has won DARPA's contest for a no-runway, high-speed drone that will prove out technologies useful for special operations forces and possibly the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment concept. Bell's design converts a tiltrotor to a jet-powered aircraft able to fly at up to 450 knots.