Airmen with the 509th Logistics Readiness Squadron and Air National Guard’s 131st LRS at Whiteman AFB, Mo., pulled their resources to ship $30 million worth of batteries to a nuclear-powered Los Angeles-class attack submarine operating in the Pacific. “We support the bomber mission everyday and now we had the chance to help out our sister service by supporting another leg of the nuclear triad,” said Lt. Col. Trace Steyaert, 509th LRS commander. Whiteman is home to USAF’s nuclear-capable B-2A bombers. The airmen shipped 65 crates of batteries on DC-8 cargo aircraft in early December, with the first shipment arriving in Guam within 24 hours. “It was great to see an operation pulled off so smoothly in such a short time. Everyone involved noticed the significance of this effort and came together to get it done,” said Steyaert. (Whiteman release by A1C Cody H. Ramirez)
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
