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The Air Force has selected the Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Wing at Selfridge Air National Guard Base near Detroit to be the next home for the service’s new refueling aircraft.
Officials said in a Jan. 12 press release Selfridge is their "preferred location" for 12 KC-46A Pegasus tankers pending the outcome of an environmental impact analysis in 2025.
New tankers would begin arriving at the wing’s 171st Air Refueling Squadron in 2029. They would replace eight KC-135 Stratotankers scheduled for retirement beginning in 2027.
The KC-46A is a big upgrade over the KC-135, as many of the latter aircraft were built in the 1950s.
The new Boeing tanker boasts more fuel capacity, worldwide navigation and communications, cargo capacity on the entire main deck floor, receiver air refueling, improved force protection and multipoint air-refueling capability, according to the Air Force.
The Air Force's press release followed a Jan. 11 announcement Selfridge would receive the KC-46A made by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who publicly shared a heads up he received from Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall about the decision.
Peters also told reporters two Air Guard refueling wings would ultimately receive the KC-46A. The Air Force has not revealed the second unit.
Two Air Guard units currently fly the new tanker — New Hampshire’s 157th Refueling Wing and New Jersey’s 141st Air Refueling Squadron, 108th Wing, which operates the KC-46A as an associate unit of the Air Force Reserve’s 514th Air Mobility Wing.
Sixteen Air Guard units operate the KC-135.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and a large bipartisan group of federal lawmakers from the state cheered the Air Force's decision Jan. 11.
"We welcome this exciting news that will help to secure the future of Selfridge Air National Guard Base for decades to come," they said in a joint statement.
The 127th Wing also includes the 107th Fighter Squadron, which flies old A-10 Thunderbolt II fighters that are set for retirement in 2026.
The Air Force's Jan. 12 press release indicated the KC-46s would replace both aircraft at Selfridge.
However, the Air Force said the base "is not precluded from being considered for a fighter aircraft mission or other potential missions in the future."
Whitmer and Michigan's congressional delegation have petitioned the Air Force for years to replace all of the 127th Wing's aging aircraft. The group most recently pressed their case to Kendall in a Dec. 20 letter.
The Air Guard has 25 fighter units, many of which fly aircraft the Air Force plans to retire. The Air Force has identified replacement aircraft for some — but not all — 25 of the units.
Michigan's 107th Fighter Squadron is among the Air Guard fighter units with an uncertain future.
Maintaining 25 Air Guard fighter squadrons is a NGAUS legislative priority.
— By John Goheen
