
Budget pressures also played into the Air Force’s decision to delay and reduce a number of national security space launches it was supposed to begin competing in the next few years, the head of the service’s space effort said Thursday. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) chief Gen. William Shelton said, in addition to the health of the service’s Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite fleet, declining defense spending caused the Air Force to reduce its competed Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)…