Senate confirms Meink as Air Force secretary

The Senate confirmed Troy Meink as Air Force secretary Tuesday in a 74-25 vote.

During his confirmation hearing in March, Meink committed to increasing the number of aircraft in the Air Force fleet and fielding new platforms to boost the size of the fleet and drive down the average age.

Meink, who most recently served as principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, is expected to bring a new level of space expertise to the department that includes both the Air Force and Space Force.

President Trump named Meink as his pick for the department’s top civilian in January.

Before entering his role at NRO in 2020, he served as the director of geospatial intelligence systems acquisition at the spy agency. He had also served as deputy under secretary of the Air Force for space.

Meink began his career as a KC-135 Stratotanker navigator in the 1980s.

As secretary, Meink will be overseeing several major acquisition programs, including the over-cost and behind-schedule LGM-35A Sentinel nuclear missile modernization, the B-21 Raider bomber and the recently announced F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance fighter.

As the head of the Space Force, he will also play a major role in the Golden Dome homeland defense system, that was laid out in an executive order by Trump earlier this year.