Space Systems Command Acquirer Named 2024 SECDEF Product Support Manager of the Year Published Dec. 1, 2025 By Lisa Sodders, SSC Public Affairs EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Ms. Tane Yingling, director of acquisition logistics and product support at Space Systems Command (SSC) S4, Sustainment and Logistics, was awarded the 2024 SECDEF Product Support Manager (PSM) of the Year for ACAT II (acquisitions category) and below at a special ceremony Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, at the Innovation Hub in Colorado Springs, Colo. Yingling, who is based at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, received the award by distinguishing herself in the performance of outstanding service to the United States in sustaining, maintaining, and modernizing the U.S. Space Force (USSF) Satellite Control Network (SCN) in 2023. The award recognizes product support manager (PSMs) as key leaders in providing the very best product support for Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Guardians and Marines, according to an award memorandum from Undersecretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment, Michael P. Duffey. The award furthers the Office of the Secretary of Defense vision of creating a high quality, high-performing, and agile acquisition workforce to achieve technological superiority and protect U.S. national security. “Ms. Yingling is a natural team builder and an inspiring leader,” said Shannon Pallone, SSC program executive officer for Battle Management Command, Control, Communications, and Space Intelligence (BMC3I). “Her recognition as the Secretary of Defense Product Support Manager of the Year is a reflection of her success in recruiting, developing, and leading a high-performing team in support of warfighters.” “Her unwavering commitment to both her people and the mission proved decisive in navigating a high-urgency event,” Pallone added. “I am deeply proud that the Secretary of War recognizes the same exceptional qualities that I see in her abilities.” On May 24, 2023, Super Typhoon Mawar made landfall on Guam, causing extensive damage to homes and infrastructure, including damaging SCN antennas at the Guam Tracking Station (GTS). Yingling led the development of 10 innovative courses of action for SpOC (Space Operations Command), with one of them being approved for immediate implementation. Yingling’s quick actions and guidance led to the service restoration of each antenna faster than anticipated. The Space Force’s SCN is a system of globally distributed antennas that support day-to-day control of U.S. government satellites, including defense and intelligence satellites. “We like to call it (SCN) the 911 of space,” Yingling said. Operated by SpOC’s 22nd Space Operations Squadron, GTS provides critical capabilities in support of the Joint Force in the INDOPACOM region. “The devastating typhoon not only affected operations due to the infrastructure damage to our antennas, it also impacted everybody’s quality of life at the site – it was a disaster zone: dangerous water, downed power lines,” Yingling said. “We had to immediately go into action – make sure our people were safe, getting personnel over there to assess the damage, and figure out how to get the mission back up and running.” “Overall, the SCN is a resilient capability. With [approximately 20] antennas located around the world, we were confident in our global counterparts to handle the mission while we picked up the pieces,” she said. Yingling set up a contingency management team which determined whether personnel were safe, what conditions were on site, and when team members would be able to get to the site. “Once we determined that everyone was safe and had somewhere to stay, we started working on ‘How are we going to get the GTS mission back up and running?’” Yingling said. “When we were allowed to have people go over to the site, all of the antennas were damaged and one of the inflatable radomes over one of our antennas was completely destroyed.” Although many mission partners including SSC, Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM), SpOC, and other U.S. Department of Defense organizations played a role, Yingling was cited in the award as the focal leader in unifying all efforts. Yingling also improved all key logistics indicators for the SCN, bringing it to the best logistics posture the SCN has had in 14 years: mission impaired capability-awaiting parts were reduced by 80 percent, forward supply points were increased to 99 percent capacity, and single-point-of-failure items were reduced by 10 percent. Yingling started working for the U.S. government during her senior year in high school in Colorado. Having earned most of her credits by the start of her senior year, she applied for an intern program that placed her with a job in the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Human Resources (HR) department. “And you know what? I really liked it!” Yingling said. “As a little kid, I never thought, ‘I’m going to grow up and work for the federal government,’ but it has been the best thing. I’m just so glad that’s where I landed because in November I will have worked for the government for 39 years and it started at the Air Force Academy.” Because she worked in the HR department, Yingling learned about all the different jobs that were available and when she found out about a management assistant job that officials were having a hard time filling, she decided to apply for it. “I became a management assistant for the USAF Operational Test and Evaluation Center AFOTEC C-SOK test team and I would sit in staff meetings and learn all these different things that would come up on different projects, and I started connecting all the dots,” Yingling said. She started assisting project managers with legwork and other small tasks, and one of the directors asked her if she’d like to work for him in acquisitions. That led to working in the acquisition program office for services at Schriever Space Force Base. Yingling got her bachelor’s degree in business from Colorado Christian University and then later earned a master’s degree from Western Governors University in leadership, “and I’ve been doing acquisitions ever since.” “Acquisitions is something different every day,” Yingling said. “I think sometimes people think acquisitions might get boring because you gather requirements, you develop your RFP (request for proposal) package, you send it out, you do your tech eval, and progress towards award.” “But every project, everything that you do, has nuance, and so it’s figuring out all those nuances all the time and saying, ‘This one isn’t exactly the same. How am I going to look at this and make sure that we are meeting warfighter intent? Is there a way that we can do this just a little bit differently, to meet that need while working within legal bounds and the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation), to come up with a solution that meets of all of that, but supports the warfighter as quickly and as effectively as possible?” “You have to use critical thinking to figure out solutions that may be a little bit different,” Yingling said. “I learn something new every day, which is why I really do love it. I love my job, I love the people I work with – I truly get up every day and say, ‘This is a good job – I’m so grateful.”