The Senate Armed Services Committee has acted quickly following last Thursday’s formal nomination by the President of Gen. Norton Schwartz to be Air Force Chief of Staff to get a confirmation hearing date established—July 22. On that day, both Schwartz and Michael Donley, nominated to be the new Air Force Secretary, are to appear to respond to questioning, some of which likely will address the hot topic of the day, the KC-X tanker issue. At the same hearing, Gen. Duncan McNabb, currently vice chief of staff, is slated to appear for his confirmation hearing to replace Schwartz as head of US Transportation Command.
The Space Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $398 million contract to design and build a communications satellite prototype with advanced anti-jam and data processing capabilities. The service announced the contract for the Enhanced Protected Tactical SATCOM-Prototype program, or Enhanced PTS-P, May 15, and said the satellite will launch no sooner than…