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Westover not chosen as preferred KC-46A base

  • Published
  • By 439th AW Public Affairs
  • 439th AW Public Affairs
WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. – --  Air Force officials announced Thursday that Westover is no longer a prime candidate to be the first reserve-led KC-46A Pegasus main operating base.

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, has now been slotted as the preferred base. The KC-46s are expected to begin arriving in 2019.

Westover ARB, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, and Grissom ARB, Indiana, were named as the reasonable alternatives.

Reasonable alternatives will continue to be evaluated during the Environmental Impact Analysis Process. Subsequent KC-46 decisions will use similar criteria; therefore, candidate installations will likely compete for future CONUS basing decisions.

"It is absolutely critical that we replace our aging tanker fleet with the KC-46A Pegasus aerial tanker," said Secretary of the Air Force, Deborah Lee James. "I am pleased to announce Seymour Johnson AFB as the first Reserve-led location because it is a testament to the Air Force's commitment to the Total Force.

During detailed, on-the-ground site surveys of each candidate base, the major commands evaluated the bases against operational and training requirements, potential impacts to existing missions, housing, infrastructure, and manpower.

The site survey teams also developed cost estimates to bed down the KC-46 at each candidate base. The results of the surveys were briefed to the Secretary of the Air Force and Air Force Chief of Staff, who selected the preferred and reasonable alternatives for this mission.

"Seymour Johnson Air Force Base was selected based on operational analysis, results of site surveys, cost, and military judgment factors," said Jennifer Miller, the Air Force deputy assistant secretary for installations. “The primary drivers for selecting this location as the preferred alternative were its lower costs and its highly successful existing Active Duty association which will lead to the lowest active duty manpower required to stand up the KC-46A Reserve unit.”

“The Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve are vital to accomplishing our air refueling mission,” James explained. “Therefore, the ability to recruit for and maintain a strong reserve component association was a major consideration in this basing action.”