By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Whether or not the 139th Airlift Wing at Rosecrans
Memorial Airport in St. Joseph lands the latest C-130 cargo planes remains up
in the air.
Competition among Air National Guard wings remains fierce.
The 139th currently flies C-130H model planes. The
wing has applied for the new “J” models, but was passed over during the initial
allocation made by the Pentagon.
Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves succeeded in getting
funding added to the Defense Budget for two additional C-130J planes, hoping 10
new planes will be located to St. Joseph.
“We’re working on that and I know that the 139th has
done everything they can, too, to fix all of the problems that the team that
came out and evaluated all the different bases around the country and set that
priority list for getting C-130Js,” Graves tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “They
fix all their problems. So, we’re just going to continue to move forward and
continue to push.”
The Air Guard base at Rosecrans fell short in that evaluation,
mostly due to the outdated facilities at the St. Joseph airport. Those are
being addressed. A new terminal with a new air traffic control tower are being
built. A new landing strip has been constructed. Other improvements are
underway as an unprecedented amount of money has been pouring in to Rosecrans
from the city, Buchanan County, and the state of Missouri. The tens of millions
being spent all have the same mission:
address the deficiencies that cost the 139th from getting the
new cargo planes during the first round.
Graves has been making the case in Washington, saying the 139th
can make a strong argument for getting the latest, modern cargo planes.
“The best thing we’ve got going for us is the Advanced Airlift
Tactics Training Center,” Graves says, pointing to the center that trains crews
from across the country as well as NATO.
“Because we are training crews in C-130Js, yet our crews are in C-130Hs.
And so, we need to make sure that they have the latest technology as well.”
Other Air Guard bases are also pressing their needs.
“Reno is one of the areas we’re competing with and one of
their missions is a firefighting mission,” Graves says. “I think our mission is
more important, but obviously they’re pushing their side of it. We’re competing
against bases all over the country and they’re all trying to make their case
the same as us. It’s hard to handicap it and the military keeps their cards very
close to their chest, too, when it comes to those decisions.”
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.
