The 
recently reactivated 96th Air Refueling Squadron at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, has completed its first operational mission. Airmen of this active duty KC-135 tanker unit were crewmembers aboard a tanker that refueled a B-52H bomber Tuesday over the Pacific Ocean. Also aboard were members of the Hawaii Air National Guard’s 203rd ARS. The 96th ARS is teamed with the 203rd ARS and the Air Guard’s 154th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron under an active association at Hickam to operate KC-135s owned by the Hawaii ANG. The Air Force reactivated the 96th ARS in July as part of Hickam’s 15th Wing. During Tuesday’s mission, the Hickam KC-135 flew in a two-ship formation with an Iowa ANG KC-135 to refuel two B-52s en route to Guam. (Hickam photo caption by SSgt. Nathan Allen)
After years of describing to lawmakers and Pentagon leaders the nature of that threat and the key role spacepower plays in deterring conflict in the domain and enabling the rest of the joint force, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman told reporters during AFA’s Warfare Symposium here that the message appears to…