KC-135s Staying At Rickenbacker

Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base will continue operating the KC-135 'Supertanker' after Air Force officials decided that  Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire will be host to the new KC-46A refueling aircraft. Despite the efforts of the base and local government officials to be selected, the 121st Air Refueling Wing will keep with the KC-135R for the time being. The 121st ARW can be heard flying on a nearly daily basis on 238.800 and local ATC frequencies.

THE HERCS ARE BACK!

Photo courtesy of Staff Sgt. Joseph Harwood

After decisive hard work by Ohio lawmakers, the 179th Airlift Wing at Mansfield was spared the BRAC chopping block and has received a new directive by regaining the C-130H 'Hercules' mission. The four C-27J 'Spartan' aircraft the unit has been flying the past several years will be divested. The first two of eventual eight C-130s arrived at Mansfield-Lahm Air National Guard Base to great fanfare on Friday May 24, 2013.

The two C-130Hs, from the Alaska Air National Guard's 176th Airlift Wing arrived with new tail colors representing their new Ohio home. 82-0054 and 82-0056 landed around 1700 Local Time. One was sporting the state flag of Ohio, the other the Ohio State Buckeyes flag in the tail stripe. The 179th is slated to receive the final and eighth C-130H by June of 2016. The new mission will add 200 new jobs to the Mansfield base.

DoD Plans Affect Area Units and Bases

With the Department of Defense making big cuts to Air Force infrastructure, many milair monitors in and around Ohio may experience a big decrease in local activity.

At this point all plans are 'Unofficial' but it appears that the DoD seeks to make heavy cuts involving over 100 A-10 aircraft including squadrons. Two squadrons are neighbors to Ohio, the 163rd FS 'Blacksnakes' from the Indiana Air National Guard at Fort Wayne and the 107th FS based at Selfridge Air Base for the Michigan ANG. Both units recently converted to the A-10 from the F-16.

The A-10 'Warthog' began flying operations in the 70s with its mission to providing
close air support for ground troops. Other squadrons that maybe affected are the 184th Arkansas ANG at Fort Smith, the USAFE's 81st FS at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany and the AFRC's 47th FS at Barksdale AFB.

Possible good news for the 163rd FS and Fort Wayne, is that the unit could pick up the mission of the MC-12 flying nine to eleven aircraft beginning in October 2013. The MC-12 is a turboprop plane that provides intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information for ground forces. It just entered operational flying status in 2009.

Ohio Bases To Lose Aircraft

The Air Force recently announced that many cuts were coming to the service in an effort to reduce costs and size of forces. These cuts will appear to hit several bases in the Buckeye State hard. In particularly, Mansfield. Cuts call for the 179th AW to lose all four of its C-27J Spartans to retirement, two of which are currently deployed to Afghanistan. The 179th AW just received and started flying the C-27J last summer. Within the next year, some 3,900 active duty, 5,100 Air Guard and 900 Air Force reserves will be cut overall.

Ohio lawmakers, including Senator Rob Portman (R) and Senator Sherrod Brown (D) are working hard to minimize the impact on Ohio.

The Ohio National Guard's 121st ARW based at Rickenbacker International is slated to lose six of its KC-135 Supertankers.

SPARTANS HEAD OUT FOR THE FIRST TIME

The 179th AW airmen have headed to Afghanistan for the first-ever deployment of the Air National Guard's new C-27J transport aircraft. The 179th will join up with units from Georgia and Oklahoma to work with the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Using the new C-27J Spartans for airlifts and airdrops to provide direct support to U.S. Army ground units. The 179th AW was the first air national guard unit to receive the new Joint Cargo Aircraft as reported here on the Ohio Area Milcom Blog in August 2010. Their deployment overseas will last nine months.