Matthew Brown reports forty-nine governors, including Martin O’Malley, are “strongly” opposing “disproportionate” cuts to the Air National Guard in the Air Force’s 2013 budget request.
Among the cuts, the Air Force plans to cancel the C27J cargo aircraft, which would leave the Maryland National Guard without the ability to airlift troops, equipment or supplies during deployments overseas or natural disasters back home.
Maryland Air National Guard Col. Scott L. Kelly, the commander of the 175th Air Wing at Warfield Air National Guard Base in Middle River, says it is unclear what will happen to the 250 members of the 135th Airlift Group if the state loses its three C27J Spartan turboprops.
The group, which has been preparing for deployment to Afghanistan later this spring, began taking delivery of the planes only last year. The state was scheduled to receive four C27Js to replace the eight larger C130J Hercules planes it lost in the last round of military base realignment.
Maj. Gen. James A. Adkins, the command of the Maryland National Guard, has said four planes would be inadequate to perform all missions effectively and could limit available aircraft to respond to disasters in Maryland.
The final decision is up to Congress. Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, a Western Maryland Republican who serves on the House Armed Services Committee and chairs its tactical land and air forces subcommittee, has questioned the plan to stop buying, maintaining or flying the C27J.
The governors, in Washington for the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, met on Monday with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey and other Pentagon officials.
“Over the past decade our National Guard has evolved into a cost-effective operational force that is critical to our national security and our ability to respond to domestic emergencies,” the governors wrote in a bipartisan letter to Panetta.
“The Air Guard provides 35 percent of theU.S. Air Force’s capability for six percent of the budget. It performs a variety of domestic missions, including transporting vital personnel, equipment and supplies during emergencies and assisting in daily drug interdiction operations.”
The letter was signed by O’Malley and the governors of 45 other states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam. The governors of Texas, Florida, Ohio and Idaho have withdrawn from the association and did not participate in the letter.
