Wichita — Deployment of KC-135R tanker crews stationed at McConnell Air Force Base has been scaled back in recent weeks and will likely not return to the pre-Sept. 11 status anytime soon, the base commander said.
"Generally speaking, right now we've gone from about 25 percent of the base deployed to about 12 percent," Col. Ron Ladnier said. "We have a lot more folks at home now."
About 300 members of the McConnell-based unit are still serving in various spots around the world.
"This is probably going to be our 'steady state,"' Ladnier said. "We are going to have people deployed for some time to come."
The refueling tankers from McConnell continue to fly daily missions in both the Mideast and the Far East, as well as over the continental United States, in support of combat and patrol missions, he said.
Meanwhile, officers of the 22nd Air Refueling Wing are meeting with the Kansas Air National Guard's 184th Bomb Wing, which will transition out of bombers into tankers later this year.
The 184th Bomb Wing and the 22nd Air Refueling Wing are both based at McConnell.
A major planning session is set for the two units in February, and the 184th pilots will soon get "seat time" in tankers flown by the outfit while the 184th maintenance crews will work with their counterparts in the tanker wing.
The Pentagon announced June 26 that it was cutting its B-1 inventory by one-third, consolidating operations at Dyess Air Force Base in Texas and Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. The reductions would mean a loss of aircraft at Air National Guard units in Kansas, Georgia and Idaho.
The 184th Bomb Wing will become the 184th Refueling Wing, equipped with 10 KC-135s.
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