Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) says that the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee approved, at his request, more than $10 million for space-related activities at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. If approved in the final 2007 defense appropriations bill, the bulk of the money—$10 million—would go toward reconfiguration of a new four-meter telescope for ground use. The telescope was to be part of USAF’s space-based laser project. Another $500,000 would go toward the academy’s Center for Space and Defense Studies, created last year, said Allard in a statement, “to build an intellectual foundation for space policy and develop Air Force officers with a vocation for space.”
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.