Ever wonder what happens to unexpended ammunition rounds downloaded from A-10 Thunderbolts—more familiarly called Warthogs? The Air Force uses a GFU-7 machine—called the Dragon—to separate brass from the ammo, returning unused rounds to a container to be reloaded. Playing the statistics game, the 455th Munitions Flight, Bagram AB, Afghanistan, estimates that, since Sept. 15 it has “expended” more than 23,000 rounds of 30 mm ammo, 15,000 countermeasures, 103 rockets, 14 500-pound air burst bombs, and nine laser-guided bombs.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
