The clean-up of 15 acres of former skeet range on the grounds of Little Rock AFB, Ark., is scheduled to be completed this month. Workers have removed more than 36 million pounds of contaminated soil—enough to fill 450 semi trucks—during the restoration and replaced the bad soil with more than 3,000 trees and recycled soil and mulch. “We removed something potentially harmful and replaced it with something positive, and that benefits everyone. This is what restoration is all about,” said Kelly Stater, restoration project manager. A site-wide investigation of the base uncovered high levels of lead contamination on the 1960s-era range that posed a health risk to humans as well as animals. (Little Rock report by SSgt. Jacob Barreiro)
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.