The News Journal of Mansfield, Ohio, has labeled the salvation of the Ohio Air National Guard’s 179th Airlift Wing one of its “Top 10 stories of 2007.” As the News Journal reports, the 179th AW was on the BRAC 2005 chopping block. It will lose its C-130 transports but gain a new airlift mission, flying the C-27J Spartan, selected last summer as the Joint Cargo Aircraft. The 179th AW also will host a new 200-member RED HORSE unit.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.