The 116th Bomb Wing will relinquish its B-1 Lancers after all, but will in turn inherit one of this nation's most sophisticated military aircraft and mission, Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar Systems, or JSTARS.
In a statement Maj. General David B. Poythress, the Adjutant General of Georgia, said the 116th, would absorb the 93rd Air Control Wing now at Robins, and its complement of 11 EC8C aircraft.
"My position, and the position of our (Congressional) delegation, has always been that we would continue as the 116th in any follow-on role," said Poythress. Currently more than 1,100 men and women are members of the 116th, a unit whose origin dates to back to 1941.
"We would own the airplanes and maintain unit integrity. Although there would be fairly sizable number of active duty airmen working with us, it will still be a Georgia Air National Guard wing. We will not have an ass
ociate relationship."
In June the Pentagon released details of its plan to downsize 116th and that its eight B-1s would be relocated to bases in South Dakota and Texas. Since then Maj. Gen. Poythress and the members of the Congressional delegation in Georgia and in Kansas where a second Guard B-1 unit was affected by the downsizing, have worked diligently to ensure that the Air National Guard unit remained viable.
Rep. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., who's district encompasses the Robins area said "We're excited about this because it means all our personnel will be used, so there'll be no reductions in personnel." said Chambliss.
"Secondly, the weapons system is such a valuable asset to the Air Force and the Army that it's going to be around for years to come. That means the 116th is going to be at Robins for several years."
JSTARS and B-1 missions require similar personnel including pilots, weapons system officers, navigators and maintenance technicians. This allows Air Guardsmen to remain at Robins.
Plans call for an addition eight aircraft to join the EC-8s already based at Robins, Chambliss said. JSTARS was first used in Desert Storm.
