AFRC Tackles New Associate Role at Vandy

Aug. 1, 2006

The Air Force Reserve Command plans to translate its traditional associate unit role—supplying airmen to fly and maintain active-duty aircraft—to the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. The reserve manpower that will share in operating and maintaining equipment at the space ops center will come from the 939th Air Refueling Wing, which must give up its KC-135 tankers and close up shop in Portland, Ore.

Related Content

STARCOM ‘on a Good Path’ to Build Up New Training Environment

July 10, 2025
Space Training and Readiness Command is “on a good path” to develop a digital environment where Guardians can train together across different locations against realistic threats in the next year or two, according to outgoing commander Maj. Gen. Timothy A. Sejba 

SOCOM Halves OA-1K Armed Overwatch Buy for 2026

July 10, 2025
U.S. Special Operations Command is once again slowing its purchases of the new OA-1K Skyraider II multipurpose counterinsurgency plane, as the Pentagon pivots its budget to prepare for a high-end conflict following two decades of wars in the Middle East.

DARPA Picks Bell Textron for New Runway-less Drone X-Plane

July 9, 2025
Bell Textron has won DARPA's contest for a no-runway, high-speed drone that will prove out technologies useful for special operations forces and possibly the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment concept. Bell's design converts a tiltrotor to a jet-powered aircraft able to fly at up to 450 knots.

Air Force Works to Modernize Aging B-52 Simulators

July 9, 2025
Air Force B-52 program officials are gunning for a budget boost for new simulators that can adequately replicate challenging tasks crew members must perform on real-world bombing missions.

Space Force Adjusts as Commerce Cuts Space Traffic Management Program

July 9, 2025
The first Trump administration moved to relieve the Space Force of its burden to monitor and warn civilian space operators about potential space traffic hazards. But now, just as the Commerce Department’s new Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) program is nearly ready, the second Trump administration is looking to…

KC-46’s Refueling Boom Damaged While Refueling F-22s

July 8, 2025
A U.S. Air Force KC-46 tanker suffered damage to its boom while refueling F-22 Raptors off the coast of Virginia on July 8, Air & Space Forces Magazine has confirmed, with reported radio communication from the crew indicating the boom “detached.”