Change the Mission: We Don’t Need No Lockheed Killing Machines

One approach to prevent the F-35 fighter jets from coming to Truax Field is changing the mission of the 115th Fighter Wing to one of the other 44 missions available to Air National Guard units. Safe Skies has asked Governor Evers and  Adjutant General Knapp of the Wisconsin National Guard to evaluate a new mission for the 115th Fighter Wing.

Last year the Ohio Air National Guard was under consideration for a new information warfare mission.

179th Airlift Wing one of two sites for possible new mission
By Carl Hunnell, City Editor, Nov 21, 2020

“This potential new mission for the men and women of the Ohio Air National Guard would bring in-demand cybersecurity positions to the area. It would position us in the middle of the military’s cutting edge cyber capability and the fight against emerging cyber threats,” Harris said.

Below is background on the removal of the F-16 fighter jets from the Iowa Air National Guard in 2013.

Change of Command at Iowa Air National Guard’s 132d Wing
January 9, 2021

Although the Des Moines Air National Guard base is quieter after the departure of the F-16 jets in 2013, the mission continues.

132nd Wing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The last regularly scheduled F-16 flights occurred in August 2013, after which the unit’s 21 F-16s were transferred to the New Jersey Air National Guard’s 177th Fighter Wing at Atlantic City Air National Guard Base. The wing moved from a manned fighter wing to a multi-mission unit, including the operation of Remotely Piloted Aircraft, an ISR group, and a cyber operations squadron, adding them to the unit’s distributed training operations center.

Deal would pull F-16s from Des Moines
December 19, 2012

DES MOINES, Iowa — F-16 fighter jets will no longer be based in Des Moines under a deal set for approval this week that will limit job cuts. A deal agreed to Monday by U.S. House and Senate negotiators will mean the removal of all 21 jets based at the Des Moines Air National Guard Base, but the base will remain open and few airman positions will be cut. The 132nd Fighter Wing will be replaced by a unit that remotely controls unmanned planes based elsewhere. The House could approve the defense spending bill as soon as Thursday and the Senate on Friday. Iowa’s congressional delegation had been trying to keep the F-16s based in Des Moines. F-16s have flown out of Des Moines since 1992.