The Virginia Air National Guard’s 192nd Fighter Wing has just seen its last F-16 depart the unit’s home base at Sandston. It’s a sight that’s been coming for two years since BRAC 2005 decreed that the 192nd FW would move to Langley Air Force Base in Hampton and fly F-22s as an associate unit to the 1st Fighter Wing, but the Times-Dispatch reports that hundreds of people were on hand to see the last Viper off. The Air Guard unit expects to complete the transition to Langley by March 2008.
The U.S. supports “a stronger and more capable” European defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said during an Oct. 22 press conference in Brussels—but that defense should not duplicate the functions and capabilities of the NATO alliance.