The Governor of Kentucky, Ernie Fletcher, said Tuesday that the Kentucky Air National Guard would create a new unit—the 123rd Contingency Response Group—at Louisville where it will be “the light on in great times of need,” reports the Louisville Courier-Journal. Comprising some yet-to-be-identified 144 Air Guardsmen, the 123rd CRG will be the first all Air Guard “air base in a box” unit. The unit will work with the active duty 615th Contingency Response Wing at Travis AFB, Calif., providing the capability to set up bare base operations anywhere in the world.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.