Wright-Patterson AFB to gain missions

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base may gain program analysis missions and intelligence missions under a restructuring of the Air Force aimed at cutting military costs, the Air Force announced Friday.

Meantime, the Springfield Air National Guard Base eluded the kind of cuts announced Friday for several other Ohio Air Guard bases.

More than half of the 10,000 active National Guard and Reserve airmen the service plans to cut next year will come from the Air Guard, the Air Force said.

The analysis and intelligence missions were listed in a document released by the Air Force in preparation for the release of the Department of Defense’s 2013 budget proposal. Congress still must approve or reject the proposal.

The Wright-Patterson moves are part of a larger effort by the Air Force to beef up intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance programs throughout the Air Force – a trend which would appear to benefit the base’s National Air and Space Intelligence Center.

“Wright-Patterson appears to be a winner,” said Michael Gessel, vice president of federal programs for the Dayton Development Coalition. He said the fact that the Air National Guard Base at Springfield was not mentioned appeared to mean the effect on the base would be “neutral, which in today’s declining Defense budget is a plus.”

As part of its announcement, the Air Force said it planned to reduce C-27 cargo planes at Mansfield Lahm Air Guard Station by four, eliminate a net of two C-130 transports at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station, and retire six KC-135 jet tankers from Rickenbacker Air Force Base in Columbus.

The reductions are part of an Air Force plan to cut $8.7 billion from its budget next year. About 3,900 active duty, 5,100 National Guard and 900 Air Force Reserves would be cut. The Air Force also would retire 200 of its oldest planes.

U.S. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, said he is concerned by the Ohio National Guard cuts.

“This initial assessment seems to be focused on in-theater and warfighting missions, not taking into account the National Guard’s important role of Homeland Security and responding to national disasters at home,” Austria said. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, acknowledged that the Pentagon needs to find savings “as we seek to rein in government funding.’’

But despite this “challenge,’’ Portman said he was “troubled” that the Air Force wants to “significantly reduce the force posture of some Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units in Ohio, which could impact some unique capabilities for our national security.’’

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, assailed the cuts at the Mansfield base, calling it “short-sighted.” He vowed that Congress would have a say in the future of the C-27, saying he would “continue to support this program and work against the president’s plan to eliminate it.’’

The four-engined K-135, which has a crew of three, refuels Air Force jets in mid-air. But the plane, which became the model for the civilian Boeing 707, is one of the oldest planes in the Air Force, with the last one being delivered in 1965.

Meghan Dubyak, a spokeswoman for Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said that Brown, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is “committed to preventing job loss and eliminating cutbacks that would harm the Ohio men and women who serve at Rickenbacker and undermine the tasks they perform.”

Jessica Wehrman and Jack Torry are staff writers in the Cox Washington Bureau.