The Department of the Air Force has started soliciting public comments on a draft document that assesses the potential environmental impacts of continued use of legacy and new defensive countermeasures and their replacements in DAF testing and military training programs within the continental U.S.
The draft programmatic environmental assessment evaluates the potential impacts of the proposed action on air quality, safety, biological resources, land use and visual resources, socioeconomics and cultural resources, DAF said Monday.
For the proposed action, DAF classified the defensive countermeasures into five categories: chaff; standard Magnesium, Teflon and Viton or MTV flares; standard spectral flares; thrusted flares; and spectral decoys.
The draft PEA, which was prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, also looks at the potential impacts of a no action alternative. Under this approach, the department would continue using legacy flare and chaff units at current levels in routine training and testing activities under existing management strategies.
Public comments are due May 3.
