Airmen with the 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., on Tuesday successfully launched a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket into space that was carrying a classified US government communications satellite known as “PAN.” “This launch helps to ensure that vital communications will continue to bolster our nation’s capabilities and showcases why the 45th Space Wing is the world’s premiere gateway to space,” said Brig. Gen. Edward Bolton Jr., 45th SW boss. This mission was the 16th Atlas V launch from Cape Canaveral. It was also the 13th launch overall this year from the Cape. (Includes Patrick release) (For more, read NASA Spaceflight.com’s Sept. 8 report.)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…