Kansas National Guard and elected officials on Dec. 19 unveiled new missions for the state’s Air National Guard units. The missions are not exactly as they had expected. At McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita, the 184th Air Refueling Wing, which loses its KC-135 tankers apparently is not picking up a new flying mission—lawmakers had said it would get a T-38 training mission—but is getting “a variety of intelligence-based and information technology missions.” (The Kansas ANG already has opened a new intelligence center at McConnell.) The 190th ARW at Forbes Field in Topeka does get additional KC-135s, the BRAC 2005-authorized number for the unit is 12 tankers, and also gets to create new expeditionary medical support system units. And, the state will establish an air support operations squadron at Smoky Hill Weapons Range near Salina to provide tactical air controllers for deployment and to aid forces training at the range.
The crash of a T-38 trainer jet this May—which caused a weekslong pause in flights across the fleet—was caused by an improperly installed pin for one of the jet’s horizontal stabilizers, according to a new accident report released Oct. 30. When the pin disengaged midflight, it created the slightest amount…