Ohio air base assigned drone

May 9, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD

The Pentagon is assigning a unit of the unmanned Predator drone aircraft to a military base in Ohio, helping to retain 866 jobs.

The move provides a new mission for the Springfield Air National Guard base. In addition, the base will take on expanded work by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, which is headquartered at nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton.

The future of the Springfield air base had been in doubt. An agreement to train military pilots from the Netherlands to fly the F-16 fighter ends in September.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said Friday the base’s new mission means it will no longer rely on temporary missions to remain open.

“This success is the result of all-hands-on-deck collaboration between the federal and state government, the military and the Dayton business community,” Brown said in a statement.

The Pentagon also agreed to provide enough money to fully fund maintenance on F-16s, allowing the base to maintain its control tower and to keep mechanics and firefighters.

The MQ-1 Predator drones have become crucial tools for the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq, both for their reconnaissance value and their ability to fire missiles at enemy positions. The CIA runs a separate covert program that targets al-Qaida and Taliban leaders across the border in Pakistan.

The Predator program is managed by the 703rd Aeronautical Systems Group based at Wright-Patterson.

Former U.S. Rep. David Hobson, a Republican from Springfield who fought to retain activity at the base when a base-closing commission recommend that it close in 2005, called the announcement very positive.