222nd Command and Control Squadron Senior Airman Dhruva Poluru named Best Airman in the New York Air Guard for 2023

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ROME, NEW YORK (02/13/2023) A young Airman assigned to Rome's 222nd Command and Control Squadron, who tracks the orbits of American satellites and those of other nations to ensure the security of U.S. space systems, has been named Airman of the Year for 2023 by the New York Air National Guard.

Senior Airman Dhruva Poluru, is assigned to the 222nd, headquartered at Griffiss Technology Park. The squadron, a component of the 107th Attack Wing, provides personnel to work with the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency which runs America's space surveillance systems.

Poluru, who lives in Herndon, Virginia, serves as a mission crew chief. He joined the New York Air National Guard in 2019.

He is responsible for orbital threat analysis and for the command and control of over 85 commercial data providers and orbital analysts who contribute to the United States Space Force's space protection and space defense missions.

Poluru also serves as the primary government representative to a team of 190 military, contractor, and international analysts geographically dispersed which provide space domain awareness support to the Commander, United States Space Command.

He has also been involved in meetings with Brazilian military officials to discuss space information sharing as part of the New York National Guard's State Partnership Program agreement with the Brazilian military.

"We are extremely proud of Senior Airman Dhruva Poluru, for representing the 107th Attack Wing and winning the highly competitive 2023 New York Air National Guard Outstanding Airman of the Year," said Col. Andrew Carlson, the commander of the 107th Attack Wing.

"Poluru is highly involved in the innovative commercial space domain awareness sector, which is a key enabler of our State Partnership Program," Carlson said.

Poluru was also named Airman of the Year of the northeastern states and will now compete to be the top Airman in the entire Air National Guard, according to Command Chief Master Sgt. Denny Richardson, the senior enlisted leader for the New York Air National Guard.

Poluru graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2022. After attending undergraduate school in Buffalo, he moved to Herndon while assigned to the 222d Command and Control Squadron.