Air Force Reserve Command’s 931st Air Refueling Group at McConnell AFB, Kan., will be elevated to wing status, ahead of the unit’s transition from the KC-135 to the KC-46A, officials announced. The 931st ARG augments McConnell’s Active Duty 22nd Air Refueling Wing as an associate unit operating the KC-135 tanker. The unit will gain operations and maintenance groups, and stand up the 905th Air Refueling Squadron and 924th ARS, in addition to a force support squadron when it becomes a wing-level organization early next year, according to a release. McConnell was selected as the first Active Duty-led operational base for the Air Force’s future KC-46A Pegasus tanker. The 931st ARW will transition to the new airframe alongside McConnell’s Active Duty flying wing beginning next year.
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.