With the “flagging” this week of a new 200-person detachment at Mansfield, Ohio, the Ohio Air National Guard’s 200th RED HORSE formally recognized that it no longer has to merge with another state to form a fully manned 400-airman RED HORSE unit. The 200th has operated for some 37 years out of its Port Clinton base, working with the 201st RHS in Pennsylvania. Both units got the go-ahead to plus-up under BRAC 2005. The 200th actually activated its Det. 1 in April, but the detachment’s airmen had deployed for Operation Jump Start along the US-Mexico border, so the squadron delayed unfurling the flag. (National Guard Bureau report by MSgt. Mike Smith)
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.