Air Force Brig. Gen. William G. Holt II for appointment to the rank of major general. Holt is currently serving as the director, joint exercise and training, J-7, Headquarters U.S. Space Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Joel D. Jackson for appointment to the rank of major general. Jackson is currently serving as the deputy director, operations, strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Michael G. Koscheski for appointment to the rank of major general. Koscheski is currently serving as the deputy commander, U.S. Air Forces Central Command; and deputy, Combined Forces Air Component Commander, U.S. Central Command, Al Udeid, Qatar.

Air Force Brig. Gen. John D. Lamontagne for appointment to the rank of major general. Lamontagne is currently serving as the deputy director, politico-military affairs (Europe, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Russia), J-5, Joint Staff, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Leah G. Lauderback for appointment to the rank of major general. Lauderback is currently serving as the director, intelligence, J-2, Headquarters U.S. Space Command, Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Rodney D. Lewis for appointment to the rank of major general. Lewis is currently serving as the deputy director, operations, J-3, Operations Team One, National Joint Operations and Intelligence Center, Joint Staff, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

Air Force Brig. Gen. John J. Nichols for appointment to the rank of major general. Nichols is currently serving as the deputy director, nuclear operations, Headquarters U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

Air Force Brig. Gen. James D. Peccia III for appointment to the rank of major general. Peccia is currently serving as the director, financial management, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Lansing R. Pilch for appointment to the rank of major general. Pilch is currently serving as the commander, 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, Air Combat Command, Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates.

Air Force Brig. Gen. James R. Sears Jr. for appointment to the rank of major general. Sears is currently serving as the commander, Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Donna D. Shipton for appointment to the rank of major general. Shipton is currently serving as the vice commander, Space and Missile Systems Center, U.S. Space Force, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Daniel L. Simpson for appointment to the rank of major general. Simpson is currently serving as the deputy chief of staff, intelligence, Resolute Support; and deputy director, J2-P, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark H. Slocum for appointment to the rank of major general. Slocum is currently serving as the commander, 332d Air Expeditionary Wing, Air Combat Command, Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Phillip A. Stewart for appointment to the rank of major general. Stewart is currently serving as the commander, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Alliance Ground Surveillance Force, Allied Command Operations, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Sigonella, Italy.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Edward W. Thomas Jr. for appointment to the rank of major general. Thomas is currently serving as the director, public affairs, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

Air Force Col. Jeannine M. Ryder for appointment to the rank of brigadier general. Ryder is currently serving as the command surgeon, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

Air Force Col. Norman S. West for appointment to the rank of brigadier general. West is currently serving as the commander, Task Force Medical-Afghanistan; and commander, 455th Expeditionary Medical Group, Craig Joint Theater Hospital, Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2183425/general-officer-announcements/

>>9127042

"This sixth mission is a big step for the X-37B program," said Mr. Randy Walden, Director and Program Executive Officer for the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. "This will be the first X-37B mission to use a service module to host experiments. The incorporation of a service module on this mission enables us to continue to expand the capabilities of the spacecraft and host more experiments than any of the previous missions."

The mission will deploy the FalconSat-8, a small satellite developed by the U.S. Air Force Academy and sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory toconduct several experiments on orbit. The FalconSat-8 is an educational platform that will carry five experimental payloads for USAFA to operate. In addition, two National Aeronautics and Space Administration experiments will be included to study the results of radiation and other space effects on a materials sample plate and seeds used to grow food. Finally, the U.S.

Naval Research Laboratory, will transform solar power into radio frequency microwave energy which could then be transmitted to the ground. "We are excited to return the X-37B to space and conduct numerous on-orbit experiments for both the Air Force and its mission partners," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Keen, the X-37B program manager.

The X-37B program completed its fifth mission in October 2019, landing after 780 days on orbit, extending the total number of days spent on orbit for the spacecraft to 2,865, or seven years and 10 months. http://satnews.com/story.php?number=1298415431

>>9127206

>>9127042

Current efforts, which will be reflected in the Air Force’s overdue report to Congress on the organization of acquisition authorities for space, Thompson stressed, are focused only on integrating those entities that already fall under the Space Force — Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) at Los Angeles AFB, and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office (SRCO), headquartered at Kirtland AFB.

Those recommendations, along with proposals for what Thompson called “a bold and groundbreaking approach” to streamlining the often-glacial process of acquiring new satellite systems, will be included in the Air Force report to Congress, which was mandated in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

That report will punt on the central question of how to organize the new space acquisition executive — as required by the 2020 NDAA to be a Senate-confirmed, independent post — within the Air Force’s acquisition chain, currently led by Will Roper (who has opposed a complete separation of space and air acquisition). Instead, it will contain 10 recommendations for changes in how DoD buys space systems.

Decisions about how to integrate space acquisition entities outside the Space Force will come in a next phase of deliberations, Thompson said.

“[W]ith respect to Space Development Agency, Missile Defense Agency and some of those others, you might anticipate things happening as soon as next year in that regard,” he explained. “That requires a little more time and effort for coordination and approval through, in some cases, the Department of Defense and others. Some may require congressional support.” https://breakingdefense.com/2020/04/space-force-expects-sda-mda-decisions-next-year/