At least one Air National Guard unit’s aircraft boost, courtesy of BRAC 2005, is creating problems because the additional aircraft didn’t come with the money to support them. KOTV news reports that the additional nine F-16s gained by the Oklahoma Air National Guard’s 138th Fighter Wing in Tulsa have exceeded the unit’s capability. The unit can only house and maintain 15 not the 26 Vipers it now has. The unit needs money to resurface its crumbling ramp and add parking space for the new aircraft and to recruit and fund additional aircraft maintainers.
If the Air Force is in line for a big budget bump from President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget in 2027, the head of Air Combat Command said he would make aircraft spare parts his top spending priority—but cautioned that more money to buy parts won’t equal a…


