Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz has approved the new cyberspace badge, including guidelines for officer eligibility. Guidelines for enlisted airmen in the new cyber career fields will follow “in a future message,” according to an April 27 Air Force Space Command release. Among the first who will pin on the new badge, Maj. Gen. Michael Basla, AFSPC vice commander, said, “The establishment of the Air Force cyberspace badge underscores the crucial operational nature of the cyberspace mission.” Lt. Gen. William Lord, USAF’s chief of warfighting integration and chief information officer, agreed and said the new badge “identifies our cyberspace professionals with the requisite education, training, and experience to operate in this new critical domain.” (The badge is the same as that proposed in 2008 when USAF was still considering a Cyber Command rather than establishing 24th Air Force under AFSPC.) (AFSPC report by TSgt. Kevin Williams includes information about the governing instruction and eligibility.)
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.