Environmental restoration officials at Eglin AFB, Fla., have recycled more than one million pounds of metal as they demilitarize some 50,000 BDU 33 and Mark 106 practice bombs. For this work, they are employing a method for the first time in the United States: using a commercial car crusher to demilitarize the dummy bombs prior to recycling the metal. “This method of demilitarizing the practice bombs costs us about $150,000 for one million pounds shredded,” said Ralph Armstrong, project manager with Eglin’s 96th Civil Engineer Group. He added, “Had we done it in a more traditional way, the cost would have been between $1 million and $2 million.” This work falls under the Air Force’s military munitions response program that makes munitions areas located off of active test ranges safe for reuse. (Eglin report by Mike Spaits)
Just days after a Defense Intelligence Agency report predicted new ballistic missile testing by North Korea, the Pyongyang regime fired a a submarine-launched ballistic missile which landed in the Sea of Japan. While U.S. Indo-Pacific Command downplayed the test as representing no new threat to the U.S. or regional allies,…