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news/2007/08/airforce_sega_070830
Air Force’s No. 2 civilian retires
Posted : Friday Aug 31, 2007 7:44:32 EDT
With moving boxes stacked in his Pentagon office, former astronaut and retired Air Force Reserve Gen. Ronald Sega was getting ready to leave the Air Force, again — this time as the service’s No. 2 civilian and the point man for Defense Department space issues.
After Sega rattled off a barrage of satellite and rocket program acronyms with the authority you would expect from a man with a doctorate in electrical engineering, Sega had a simple answer for why he loves space and the Air Force.
“This is good stuff ... it is important ... and it looks like a lot of fun,” Sega told reporters Thursday.
Sega became undersecretary of the Air Force in 2005 after five years as the Defense Department’s director of research and engineering. When Sega was sworn in as undersecretary, he retired as a major general with 31 years of active-duty and reserve rated service in space and air operations.
Sega also served as a NASA astronaut from 1990 to 1996, flying on two shuttle missions as a payload specialist and payload commander.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has not nominated a permanent replacement for Sega. Sega’s acting replacement is Gary Payton, the Air Force’s deputy undersecretary for space programs and, like Sega, a former astronaut and Air Force pilot. Payton is married to Sue Payton, the service’s assistant secretary for acquisition.
As an overall accomplishment while undersecretary, Sega cited treating the development of new satellites and rockets as a series of steppingstones. Instead of having every feature on the first satellite, Sega championed the idea of adding features as each satellite proved itself — similar to how aircraft are upgraded in blocks.
Sega also hailed the Air Force’s record of 51 consecutive successful satellite launches. The old record was 42 launches between 1968 and 1971.
The secretary said the new emphasis on small, tactical satellites gives junior Air Force officers the opportunity to do hands-on work with this new family of reconnaissance and communications satellites.
During Sega’s time as undersecretary of the Air Force, he has done a great deal to mesh the service’s space efforts with those of the services and civilian agencies such as the National Reconnaissance Office.
Sega cited standing up the joint Operationally Responsive Space Office at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., whose mission is to coordinate and accelerate the fielding of tactical satellites. Another example was the exchange between Air Force Space Command and the National Reconnaissance Office of senior leaders. Today, Maj. Gen. Tom Sheridan serves as the NRO’s deputy director while an NRO civilian went to Space Command as deputy director of operations.
Having Sheridan at the NRO, a prime customer for Space Command’s satellites, improves cooperation and gives the hundreds of airmen who work for the NRO a blue-suit commander to look after their career and personnel needs, Sega said.
Sega was also the point man for the Air Force’s drive to find alternate energy sources. With the B-52H bomber now certified with fly with a 50/50 mix of JP-8 and synthetic fuel, the next aircraft in line for tests is the C-17, Sega said.
After he officially leaves his Air Force post Friday, Sega plans to return to Colorado as a vice president of applied research for Colorado State University and a tenured professor with the University of Colorado.
