US Strategic Command has taken command and control responsibility for the Wideband Global SATCOM-2, the second new communications satellite that USAF placed in orbit in early April. Air Force Space Command’s 3rd Space Operations Squadron at Schriever AFB, Colo., will continue day-to-day support for WGS-2, under the operational control of the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. The 3rd SOPS, part of the 50th Space Wing at Schriever, took control of the Boeing-built satellite on Aug. 18 from the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles AFB, Calif., which had picked up WGS-2 from Boeing on June 15 after on-orbit and ground system checkouts. Boeing is building one more Block 1 WGS and three Block 2 versions. The WGS series are the first to provide Ka-band communications for operations in Southwest Asia. (SMC release; Schriever release)
A recent seven-day exercise sent Air Force F-22s—along with other USAF aircraft—to austere, challenging environments across Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Agile Reaper, taking place for the second time after its inaugural edition last year, featured 800 Airmen and 29 aircraft across five different locations from April 10-16, training…