Air Force To Cut Nearly 300 Planes, But None From MacDill

Posted Feb 3, 2012 by Howard Altman

Updated Feb 3, 2012 at 03:45 PM

As part of the ongoing military budget cuts, the Air Force is trimming nearly 300 aircraft from its inventory in the next seven years, but none from MacDill Air Force Base, according to a document released by the Air Force today.

The Air Force is also planning to trim nearly 10,000 jobs, but specifics about where those cuts will come from will not be made until March. Congressman C.W. Bill Young, chairman of the influential House Defense Appropriation Subcommittee, had a briefing with Air Force leadership this morning and was told that if there are any personnel reductions at MacDill, they would be “very minor.”

The cuts – through fiscal year 2017 - are being made as the Pentagon looks to trim nearly a half-trillion dollars from its budget over the next decade. The Air Force hopes to cut nearly $9 billion in the next fiscal year alone by eliminating about 200 planes.

MacDill primarily hosts KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling planes, flown by the 6th Air Mobility Wing and the 927th Air Refueling Wing. There are 16 at the base between both units, according to 6th Air Mobility Wing spokesman MSgt Bryan Gatewood. The Air Force plan calls for trimming the KC-135 fleet by 20 planes, leaving 453 total. There are other aircraft at MacDill as well, but none are slated to be cut from the base fleet, according to the Air Force.

The Air Force document states that the KC-46 aerial refueling planes, set to replace the Eisenhower-era KC-135s, are still scheduled to come on line.

“The Air Force is currently developing requirements for the first two KC-46 bases and expect to approve basing criteria in March, 2012,” according to the document.

Young said that the Air Force will accept the first of these new tankers in 2017 and that “the commitments made to me” about bringing some of the new tankers to MacDill “still stand.”

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