The Montana Air National Guard and the state’s Congressional delegation and local officials are working together to try to get the Air Force to create an associate unit between the ANG’s 120th Fighter Wing at Great Falls and an active duty force at Malmstrom Air Force Base, reports KRTV in Great Falls. In 2006, a Montana group urged the Air Force to consider reopening the Malmstrom airfield and moving the 120th FW there as part of its BRAC-induced switch from F-16 to F-15 fighters. The latest proposal would have the Air Guardsmen train an active associate unit of F-15 maintainers. The Montana group also would like to increase the 120th FW’s aircraft inventory from 15 to 24.
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.