Tuesday, November 25, 2014
VIENNA
Without expensive communication and navigation overhauls by 2020, the C-130 Hercules cargo/personnel transport planes at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna would be largely inoperable.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, during a tour Monday of YARS, said a bill he is co-sponsoring would allow the Air Force to use a less expensive communication and navigation overhaul without sacrificing safety and effectiveness.
The modernization is necessary because of Federal Aviation Administration and international airspace regulatory constraints. If the improvements aren’t made by 2020, the fleet will be largely inoperable, Brown said.
“Without modernization of communications and avionics [in the C-130s] we would be dead in the water,” said Air Force Col. James D. Dignan, commander of the 910th Airlift Wing at YARS.
Lack of the modernization would make the C-130 Hercules unusable, said Dignan, who accompanied Brown on his tour.
Brown said it is in the economic best interests of the Mahoning Valley and the security of the nation to modernize the C-130 Hercules cargo/personnel planes here and keep them and the air station viable.
He said YARS has 400 full-time employees and 200 contract employees at the base that contribute to the local economy.
Also, Brown said, the men and women of YARS play an important role in emergency response actions, search and rescue operations, and defense missions.
“That’s why it’s so critical that we keep the C-130 fleet flying. This bill would modernize the C-130 fleet to meet standards in a safe, cost-effective and efficient way,” he said.
Brown said the C-130H fleet, ranging from 20 to 40 years of age, is the military’s primary combat delivery aircraft and has provided humanitarian assistance, precision airdrop and tactical airlift missions across the globe for more than four decades.
Brown is co-chairman of the Senate Air Force Caucus, a group of bipartisan lawmakers who represent the interests of Air Force bases in their states.
Ohio is home to more than 3,000 Air Force reservists, and has six Air Force bases including Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton; Air National Guard bases at Mansfield, Columbus, Springfield and Toledo; in addition to the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.