President Obama on Thursday signed legislation into law that provides funding to cover the death gratuities paid to the grieving families of fallen service personnel, reported NBC News. The federal government’s partial shutdown had disrupted these payments. The House unanimously passed the legislation on Oct. 9. The Senate followed suit on Oct. 10. The bill’s enactment came one day after the Pentagon announced a workaround solution with the Fisher House Foundation, whereby the foundation would cover the costs of the death benefits up front to aid the families and DOD would reimburse the Fisher House at a later point.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…