Bombing with Pesticide

 Range fires can raise havoc and Mountain Home Air Force Base aims to do something about it. The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft built by Lockheed. Capable of takeoffs and landings from unprepared runways, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport aircraft. The versatile airframe has found uses in a variety of other roles, including as a gunship, for airborne assault, search and rescue, and now…spreading herbicides. Mountain Home Air Force Base officials have announced that they are going to spray the herbicide Plateau on 3200 acres. Why? To eliminate cheatgrass. Here’s Bob Spencer, Bureau Chief for the Idaho Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Compliance Bureau: “Plateau herbicide is labeled for use primarily on rangelands. They have their bombing ranges where they have a lpt of the cheatgrass. When they go out to do their military practices, they’re trying to prevent range fires.”