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)
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
