Officials in Connecticut and Washington are trying to make sure the state’s Air National Guard has aircraft — and the more than 1,100 direct and indirect jobs in the state that support them — to fly in the coming years, The Associated Press reports.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney and others are hoping to fend off looming cuts to the Air Force budget and the possibility of even deeper reductions if a deal on a federal deficit-cutting plan isn’t reached by Thanksgiving.
Malloy, in Washington last week before heading to in Kuwait and Afghanistan, made a pitch on behalf of the Guard to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Craig R. McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau.
The governor said he had “serious discussions” about the future of the Guard’s operations at the Bradley Air National Guard Base in East Granby, where nine C-21 Learjet planes are currently housed, and “what their mission is and will evolve to be.”
Those jets are slated to be replaced in two years, with four to six larger, multifunction C-27J Spartan cargo planes. The new aircraft can transport personnel and cargo, and are capable of landing on small, unimproved runways. They can conduct missions both overseas and at home.
The C-27J program is vulnerable to cuts because not all the money has been spent to fund all 38 planes the military has ordered, and the Air Force is looking for places to make cuts, Maj. Gen. Thaddeus J. Martin, the adjutant general of the Connecticut National Guard, told The Associated Press. If that program is ultimately scrapped, Connecticut’s flying mission could be in jeopardy. Connecticut has had an Air National Guard since 1923.
Loss of the planes would also mean Connecticut would lose the trained personnel and equipment that go along with them. Those are resources the state can tap during disasters, such as the tropical storm and snowstorm that hit Connecticut in recent months. During the past year, Air National Guardsmen have shoveled heavy snow off roofs, helped distribute food and water to cities and towns and cleared fallen trees blocking roads.
There are 1,144 employees authorized for Connecticut’s Air National Guard, most covered by federal funding. That figure includes 340 full-time positions at the Air Guard’s facilities at Bradley and in Orange.
Besides the aviators and plane maintenance workers, there are support crews that include firefighters, engineers and service workers who perform everything from food preparation to mortuary science, Martin said. Once the C-27Js arrive, the Air Guard’s total presence is expected to grow to more than 1,300 people.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney said keeping the C-27J program is more than about retaining an air presence in Connecticut. He said the planes are needed to replace, larger, aging cargo planes used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
