Apparently discussions between Michigan legislators and Army Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, head of the National Guard Bureau, convinced Blum that he should recommend that the Pentagon station some of the new Joint Cargo Aircraft at the Air National Guard facility in Battle Creek, according to Rep. Joe Schwarz (R-Mich.). (We reported on the Michigan sales pitch last month.) The Enquirer reports that Schwarz on Wednesday publicly stated that the effort had NGB backing. ANG’s 110th Fighter Wing at Battle Creek stands to lose its A-10 Warthogs by 2009 under BRAC 2005.
With the Air Force in the midst of its biggest testing boom in decades, the Maintenance Operational Test (MxOT) Division at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., is making sure those tests include an often-overlooked perspective: that of maintainers.