Saving money, building partnerships, the fun way Published June 8, 2017 By Airman 1st Class Eli Chevalier 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England -- Like most things, ammunition has an expiration date. Which raises the question: what can be done with unserviceable or expired munitions? For explosive ordnance disposal technicians from the 48th Civil Engineer Squadron here, the answer is simple. Just blow it up! “The [48th Fighter Wing’s] original plan was to ship them back to the United States for further disposition,” said an EOD technician assigned to the 48th CES. “In order to save the government money, we got approval to dispose of them locally.” On May 24, the EOD flight partnered with the British Army’s Royal Logistic Corp to coordinate access, for the first time, to Salisbury Plain Training Area, an ideal location to safely dispose of expired munitions. The EOD technician said to make the controlled detonation happen, the EOD Airmen were required to get approval from the British EOD safety team. Range protocol dictates that British EOD supervise RAF Lakenheath EOD on their first two times using the range, after which RAF Lakenheath EOD will be able to operate on the range independently, said British Army Captain Luke Seddan, Troop Commander of the 621 EOD Squadron, 11th EOD Regiment, Royal Logistic Corp. With new access to the range, both parties hope this is the beginning of a beneficial relationship. “In the future, we are hoping to do some training together to mature relations,” he said. During the controlled detonation, over 2,500 pieces of expired ammunition were destroyed using C-4 plastic explosive. This is just the beginning of scheduled quarterly destruction of a two year backlog for an annual savings of $2 million.