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)
Lockheed Martin’s proposed autonomous drone, called Vectis, is still on track to fly a prototype by the end of 2027, an official from the company’s Skunk Works division said Sept. 10, and the firm already started work on four more Vectis aircraft.
