SDB Goes Operational: 
Munitions maintenance airmen of the 48th Fighter Wing, RAF Lakenheath, England, have been getting schooled on the Air Force’s newest munition—the Small Diameter Bomb, or GBU-39. The wing will be deploying F-15E fighters equipped with the SDB for the munition’s first operational debut—in Southwest Asia—this fall. TSgt. Corey Hammond, production supervisor for the 48th Munitions Squadron, says the SDB is “a great weapon” for ground crew, noting that they like “the ease of it.” He explained, “It requires less manpower. It requires less maintenance. When you are on the fighting front that’s important.”
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.