Air Combat Command officials on Monday released the draft environmental impact statement for the proposed expansion of the Powder River Training Complex. This training range spans portions of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. USAF wants to modify the complex’s airspace to enable B-1 bomber aircrews from Ellsworth AFB, S.D., and B-52 aircrews from Minot AFB, N.D., to train more realistically. This includes establishing new low-altitude airspace and high-altitude training areas. Among the potential impacts cited in the draft document, the proposed action would impede civil air traffic to some extent. With the draft EIS now out, a period of public comment commences. Hearings start next month in communities near the complex to allow citizens to voice support or concern. They kick off Sept. 14 in Rapid City, S.D., and conclude in Billings, Mont., on Oct. 26. (Langley release) (Draft EIS executive summary; caution, large file.)
Space Force acquisition leaders were already looking to see if they could shift some of their biggest programs to use commercial services or technology, but one of President Donald Trump's executive orders, signed April 9, that could super-charge that effort.