The Air Force Technical Applications Center at Patrick AFB, Fla., activated five new squadrons with responsibility for its nuclear treaty compliance monitoring and support missions on Oct. 15. “As an organization, AFTAC is changing rapidly and we must embrace these changes to ensure our continued success,” AFTAC Commander Col. Jennifer Sovada said in a release. AFTAC directly reported to Headquarters Air Force until last year when it realigned under Air Combat Command and 25th Air Force, which oversees USAF’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. The center reorganized as a wing-equivalent, standing up the technical surveillance, technical operations, technical support, technical sustainment, and cyber capabilities squadrons to reflect the change. The center will continue its role of detecting, locating, and classifying nuclear detonations, and collecting technical data on foreign testing of weapons of mass destruction, according to the release. The center originally stood up as the 1035th US Air Force Field Activities Group in 1959, becoming AFTAC in 1980.
The Space Force should take bold, decisive steps—and soon—to develop the capabilities and architecture needed to support more flexible, dynamic operations in orbit and counter Chinese aggression and technological progress, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
