An Air Force Space Command launch team at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on Aug. 23 conducted a routine test launch of a Minuteman III ICBM, sending the missile with its unarmed re-entry vehicle to a target near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. In addition to testing the reliability and accuracy of the missile from the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom AFB, Mont., the Missile Defense Agency took the opportunity to gather data for use in future Ballistic Missile Defense System tests without paying for its own test missile. (Vandenberg report; MDA report)
The Air National Guardsman who was arrested last year for sharing hundreds of top secret and classified documents to online chatrooms was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison on Nov. 12 after pleading guilty to several charges this March.