The United States is currently engaged in Libya “in the most extensive effort to combat the proliferation” of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles in US history, said Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs. Thus far, teams of US officials, working on the ground in Libya with allies like Britain and the Libyan government, “have helped to identify, recover, and secure approximately 5,000” of these man-portable air defense systems and components, said Shapiro in a speech at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. However, officials “don’t know and probably never will” be able to determine just how many MANPADS former Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s government had stockpiled, he said. Plus, there’s no way to know for sure how many of them survived NATO’s air strikes against weapons storage sites or how many of them militias and private citizens got their hands on during last year’s Libyan conflict, he noted. “We cannot rule out that some weapons may have leaked out of Libya,” said Shapiro during his Feb. 2 address. The concern is that terrorist groups like al Qaeda might acquire them.
Pentagon Releases Cost of Living, BAH Rates for 2026
Dec. 30, 2025
The Pentagon will pay cost of living allowances to 127,000 service members in the continental U.S. in 2026, an increase of 66,000 members in 2025. Airmen and Guardians across the U.S. will also receive an average increase of 4.2 percent for their Basic Housing Allowance, compared to the 5.4 percent…
