The congressionally mandated National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force will hold its first public hearing on June 4 in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., according to a commission release. Retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Dennis McCarthy will serve as chairman of the eight-member panel; former Air Force Undersecretary Erin Conaton is the vice chair. The commission is charged with conducting a “comprehensive study of the Air Force’s structure to determine if and how the structure should be modified to best fill current and future mission requirements with available resources,” states the release. Panel members held their first internal meeting on April 30. Congress directed the commission to provide a report with its recommendations by Feb. 1, 2014.
The Space Force awarded three contracts for rocket launches worth up to a combined $13.68 billion on April 4—and the usual players SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have got some competition in the form of newcomer Blue Origin.