It won’t be Pope Air Force Base, N.C., anymore, but even the new Pope Army base (Ft. Pope?) will have an Air Force presence. Despite earlier reservations about destroying synergy between USAF airlifters at Pope AFB, N.C., and the troops they transport at Ft. Bragg, just next door, the BRAC commission accepted the Pentagon recommendations for Pope. The Army will own the facility and the Air force will maintain a 16-aircraft C-130H squadron, instead of its current 25-aircraft wing. It was unclear, from the Friday afternoon BRAC session, if the squadron would be a mixture of active and reserves forces, as USAF proposed, or all Air Force Reserve Command. Pope’s 36 A-10 Warthogs are slated for Moody AFB, Ga.
Why USAF Wants to Cut ISR Operations in Fiscal 2022
June 23, 2021
Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft are among the Air Force's most-requested assets worldwide, but the service wants to cut back the number of combat air patrols it supports with ISR on any given day so it can free up funds in the fiscal 2022 budget to develop next-generation platforms. Convincing…