The new boss of Air Force Space Command, Gen. Robert Kehler, is spending some time in Southwest Asia, getting a first-hand look at space forces in the US Central Command area of responsibility. He calls such interaction “critical” since space-force members are “synchronizing and integrating with ground forces and providing everything from weather forecast and satellite images to improvised explosive device detection.” Kehler was at the Combined Air and Space Operations Center when he said, “Every mission, every raid, in the AOR involves our space assets, many of which are located or controlled right here in the CAOC. He was talking about space professionals in theater and in the US of all the services when he added that US military space professionals “bring a capability to our military that no other can match.” (CENTAF report by TSgt. Joel Langton)
The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35s, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.