The Air Force will license launch complex 36 at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., to the state of Florida for use as a commercial launch site for boosting commercial satellites into low-Earth orbit and beyond, Space Florida, the state’s public-private aerospace development organization, announced yesterday. The agreement, which is subject to completion of the environmental impact evaluation, boosts the state’s efforts to create a commercial launch zone on the US East Coast that will attract and sustain national and international aerospace business in Florida. The Air Force ceased using the complex in 2004.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
