By Unknown
In a meeting Thursday with the new U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Sen. Sherrod Brown pushed for additional C-27J aircraft for the 179th Airlift Wing of the Ohio National Guard in Mansfield.
"Secretary Panetta knows better than anyone the importance of the work the Air Guard does overseas and at home," said Brown, D-Ohio. "With so many assets overseas, it is important that equipment and resources for our men and women in the Air Guard are adequate to meet all the missions they carry out.
"The 179th Airlift Wing continues to play a vital role in our country's national security, which is why having the adequate number of C-27J aircraft housed at the base is so important."
Under the current purchase proposal, which involves seven other bases around the country, the Mansfield base will house four operational C-27J aircraft. However, Brown is concerned that four aircraft will not be sufficient for home station training and homeland security functions, and is asking the Air Force to develop an alternative plan that would deliver additional aircraft to Mansfield.
In June, Brown and seven other senators sent a letter to Air Force Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz and Chief of the National Guard Bureau Craig McKinley, calling the current proposal "unworkable" and "unacceptable." Brown and the senators suggested the Air Force purchase enough additional aircraft to supply each of the eight bases with six aircraft. Alternatively, the senators suggested, the Air Force could deliver one additional aircraft to each base.
"The operations tempo expected of these aircraft is high, with perhaps 16 of the 38 aircraft in the inventory estimated to be in theater at any given time. Despite this high level of need, the deployment strategy for these aircraft is not yet clear. We presume, however, that when needed overseas, at least two aircraft from each base will be forward deployed," the senators wrote. "With one aircraft expected in some level of maintenance at any given time, only one aircraft would be available for home station training and homeland security functions."