Air Force outlines missions
Base officers talk aircraft transition
Four commanders from Little Rock Air Force Base gave an overview of their current missions and outlined the base’s transition to more modern aircraft during the Arkansas Aerospace Summit on Wednesday.
Col. Johnnie Martinez, commander of the active duty 19th Operations Group; Col. James Dryjanski, commander of the active duty 314th Airlift Wing; Col. Robert Ator II, commander of the Arkansas Air National Guard 189th Airlift Wing; and Lt. Col. Neil Hede, commander of the Air Force Reserve’s 327th Airlift Squadron, spoke at the event at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Little Rock. The meeting’s purpose was to bring together aerospace companies, state lawmakers and aeronautical educators.
Chad Causey, executive director of the Arkansas Aerospace and Defense Alliance, said the commanders were invited because much of the state’s aerospace industry, including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and other contractors in East Camden, “are connected with defense.”
“It’s awesome to get a chance to talk with civilian leaders in the aerospace industry,” Dryjanski said. “We are an aerospace nation. We up here wearing the uniforms, we form one aspect of what that’s all about.”
Martinez explained the 19th Airlift Wing’s ongoing transition from C-130 H-models — the legacy model of the tactical airlift aircraft — to the newer J-models, which can climb higher and fly faster.
The 19th, the host unit at the base in Jacksonville,
retired most of its fleet of H-models last year. Martinez said the unit now operates and maintains 23 J-models, and it is scheduled to grow to 28 aircraft by 2016.
The transition comes after it was announced the older C-130s would be restricted from parts of U.S. and European airspace by 2020 because of outdated communication and navigation systems.
The 913th Airlift Group, an Air Force Reserve unit housed at Little Rock Air Force Base, also will transition from the H-models to the newer aircraft if Congress approves the switch, Hede said.
Martinez said the 19th Airlift Wing’s transition may result in the deactivation of one of the unit’s squadrons. No airmen are currently working as part of the 53rd Airlift Squadron, which has conducted airlift and airdrop operations with the H-models since 2008. However, it has not been officially shut down, he said.
“We have essentially withdrawn from the legacy aircraft mission on the active duty side,” Martinez said. “Part of that movement has some squadrons going away.”
Martinez also talked briefly about the 19th’s current deployments. He said eight C-130s and 12 crews of airmen are in Afghanistan as part of a new training and counterterrorism mission, Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. A smaller group of airmen — two C-130s and two crews — is stationed in Germany, “sitting alert” for missions in Africa and Europe. Another two crews of airmen are in Djibouti, he said.
“Wherever the president says we need to deploy U.S. forces, you can bet that C-130s are going to be part of the solution,” Dryjanski said. “We need the next generation who are committed to advancing the ball for aerospace, not only here in Arkansas but around the globe.”