South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune claims the Air Force misled the BRAC commission about a federal lawsuit affecting the B-1Bs that fly out of Dyess AFB, Tex. Residents near Dyess filed suit in 2000 over noise along training routes. (Read our story here.) Thune wants to save Ellsworth AFB, S.D., which, under the Pentagon’s BRAC proposals, would shift its B-1B bombers to Dyess and be shut down. He says the lawsuit is more threatening than the Air Force makes it out to be.
Satellite manufacturer Apex announced it would launch a space-based interceptor demonstration next summer—the latest company to unveil plans to prototype technology that could contribute to the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile defense project.