USAF’s 55th Mobile Command and Control Squadron, Offutt AFB, Neb., officially stood down Sept. 27, closing out nearly 30 years of service as the alternate, mobile command center in the event of a Cold War nuclear attack upon the United States. The squadron was part of a strategy designed to deter such an attack, and the strategy worked, noted Lt. Gen. Robert Kehler, deputy commander of US Strategic Command. Maj. Karen Hibbard, squadron commander, said that even though evolving world events and advancing technologies had spelled the end of the squadron, its legacy of service would live on. She added, “At the end of the day, we can all say, ‘Mission complete.’ ”
To counter Chinese ambitions, the U.S. Space Force must start work now to put Guardians in orbit and on the moon in the decades to come, according to a new paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.