California has dispatched 30 of its Air National Guardsmen, along with 30 civilian emergency medical specialists, to Ukraine for a week to participate in disaster response drills with more than 200 military and civilian counterparts from four Caucasus nations. In “Rough and Ready 2006,” the Californians are working side by side with teams from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and host country Ukraine, responding to simulated terrorist strikes on an oil pipeline, a railway, and a shopping mall. It is the fourth such international exercise for the participants, held under the auspices of California’s State Partnership Program with Ukraine.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
