Officials at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota have identified the airman who was killed April 29 during routine training as SrA. Richard Allan Gallelli Jr., 22, according to news reports. Gallelli, who was a member of the 17th Munitions Squadron, received a blow to his head from a dummy training missile during practice loading and unloading weapons on a B-52, reports Associated Press, via WDAY. According to an April 29 Minot release, he died of his injuries soon after the accident. AP also noted he had served at Minot, his first assignment, for more than three years. The Air Force has begun an investigation into the accident. (Also see Minot Daily News report)
No matter what happens with the Nunn-McCurdy review of the Sentinel ICBM program, the nation must have a land-based element of its nuclear triad, Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief William LaPlante told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.