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Details: Published: 25 November 2025; Hits: 16

25 12 3 water dog training support our troops inc.avif

RAF MILDENHALL, SUFFOLK, UNITED KINGDOM, (November 11, 2025): U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Cameron Gilbert, left, 100th Security Forces Squadron military working dog trainer, braces himself as MWD Glen grips onto the bite suit while Staff Sgt. Julian Benjamin, 100th SFS MWD handler, holds onto the leash during water confidence training in a pool at RAF Mildenhall, England, Nov. 12, 2025. This was the first time this type of training has been conducted at RAF Mildenhall and the tri-base area, and the goal is to build confidence in the working dogs, so they are able to conduct operational tasks while in the water. The training strengthens the overall readiness and force projection capability through building MWDs’ confidence in the water and bolsters the 100th Air Refueling Wing’s ability to forward-deploy in austere environments. (U.S. Air Force photo by Karen Abeyasekere)

On the radar

DEFENSE AGENCY CONTRIBUTED TOWARD OPERATION MIDNIGHT HAMMER SUCCESS

support our troops org hammer 2 2025 July 10, 2025: On June 22, 2025, about 125 U.S. military aircraft, including seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers carrying 14 30,000-pound GBU-57 massive ordnance penetrator bombs and a guided-missile submarine firing Tomahawk missiles, participated in Operation Midnight Hammer, which significantly damaged Iran's three nuclear sites.

An aircraft is shown inside a hanger under green light.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency contributed to the yearslong development of the GBU-57, the world's largest conventional bunker-busting munition, and worked collaboratively to test and validate its effectiveness before transitioning the bombs to the Air Force, a senior defense official said during a press briefing today.

The agency utilized modeling and simulation to determine the impact of the GBU-57 on hardened and deeply buried targets to ensure a successful outcome for Operation Midnight Hammer.

The full battle damage assessment is still being compiled by the intelligence community and may take some time, the official said.

"We're working to stay ahead of the enemy, and we work to enable our warfighters to be ready, modern and prepared to defeat those who may threaten our homeland, partners or allies with weapons of mass destruction," the official said, speaking of DTRA's broader mission.

Established in 1942, DTRA has undergone various name changes over the years. Still, the mission has largely remained the same — provide solutions to enable the Defense Department to deter strategic attacks on the U.S. and its allies, as well as prevent, reduce and counter WMDs and emerging threats.

WMDs include chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive materials used in any domain, the official noted, adding that the agency works closely with the intelligence community to understand the intentions of U.S. adversaries regarding weapons of mass destruction.

"We use our deep technical expertise to look for vulnerabilities within those adversary activities, and then we work to exploit those vulnerabilities to change what the adversary is doing, be it to disrupt their development of a weapon of mass destruction, to defeat a weapon of mass destruction device or to destroy their ability to use weapons of mass destruction," the official said.

By David Vergun DOD News

Published with permission of DOD