MACOMB COUNTY, MICH. – The Air Force just gave the Selfridge Air National Guard Base a big New Year’s present, which consists of a new squadron of planes heading to Macomb County, securing Selfridge’s future for the next several decades.
Instead of partisan bickering, you had Michigan’s congressional delegation, executive branch, and county government pulling at once, which paid off.
Selfridge is integral to Macomb Counties economy and southeast Michigan; however, in recent years, the Air Force has been slimming down, and the A-10 Warthog, which is based on Selfridge, is being phased out. The KC-135 is being retired as well.
Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel raised the alarm years ago, pushing for a new fighter mission for Selfridge.
The county, along with the state’s congressional delegation and governor, have been lobbying hard for a new mission to keep the base up and running -- a key component to the defense contractor corridor Macomb enjoys.
On Thursday (Jan. 11), after aggressively lobbying the Air Force, Selfridge got a big kiss; a new mission of KC-46A refueling aircraft is headed to Selfrdige -- a full squadron of 12 planes.
“We know that there were 10 states that were aggressively working to try to get those KC-46s at their bases,” said United States Senator Gary Peters. “So, with 10 states working their bases aggressively and two squadrons doing overtime trying to get this commitment, today we now know that we are getting one of those two squadrons.”
Although Peters was thrilled about the news that occurred on Thursday, it still doesn’t mean that the squadron coming to Macomb that our congressional delegation isn’t still trying to land a fighter mission as well.
More: Lawmakers push for new fighter wing at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County