COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.–The Air Force is standing up a new three-star deputy chief of staff for space position, according to the service’s top space officer.
Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) chief Gen. Jay Raymond said April 4 the position would be based at the Pentagon. The Air Force also has a deputy chief of staff for operations and a deputy chief of staff for intelligence. This new position, he said, will come to work every day focused on how the Air Force can best organize, train and equip its airmen and women to meet the challenges of space.
The AFSPC is also going to tackle rapid acquisition processes. He said the Air Force is taking the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act to get acquisition authority for those space programs that are currently held within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
The Air Force is also working hard to leverage its Operationally Responsive Space authorities that already lie under Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center more broadly and to be able to use those in different ways.
Raymond said the though Air Force has a “great” relationship with the National Reconnaissance Office, it has to get better. Raymond’s remarks came at the 33rd Space Symposium.