The 625th Strategic Operations Squadron at Barksdale AFB, La., competing for the first time for the Phillips Award, presented to the best overall missile squadron, has taken the honor for 2009. The 625th STOS, now an Air Force Global Strike Command unit, has several missions, including ICBM targeting and targeting system operations, ballistic missile engineering and trajectory analysis, the Strategic Automated Command and Control system, and Airborne Launch Control System training, operations, testing, and evaluation. The squadron commander, Lt. Col Ronald Allen, credits his “exceptional personnel” and “world-class mission partners” for the squadron’s win. “We definitely have an all-star lineup of dedicated professionals; I’m truly honored to be on their team,” said Allen. (The Association of Air Force Missileers sponsors the award, named after the late Gen. Samuel C. Phillips.) (AFGSC report by Megan Orton)
Russia’s lack of conventional military superiority when compared to the U.S. and the rest of NATO is driving its development of “asymmetric” capabilities like the nuclear anti-satellite weapon that generated headlines earlier this year, multiple Pentagon officials said this week.