Branching Out

Branching Out: Air Force Reserve Command wants to increase its support to Air Force Space Command, said Brig. Gen. Karen Rizzuti, vice commander of 10th Air Force, a Reserve numbered air force headquartered at NAS Fort Worth JRB, Tex. This includes moving into the survivable communications mission area and taking on increased roles in supporting space control, in operating Space Based Infrared System early warning satellites, and in running the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., she told reporters during a media availability on Sept. 17 at AFA’s Air & Space Conference just outside Washington, D.C. AFRC also continues to expand its presence in the cyber mission, said Rizzuti. The command is establishing the 960th Cyber Operations Group at JBSA-Lackland, Tex., to support the Active Duty airmen there who run the 624th Operations Center for cyber. The new group’s commander is already in place and AFRC is “waiting on formal activation” of the unit, she said. Rizzuti acknowledged, when asked, that delays in implementing the Air Force’s proposed force structure changes, like retiring older fighters, “does affect” AFRC’s ability to reallocate its personnel to emerging and growing mission areas.