Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.

Barnes' mission will change to air survival

By Dan Cooper &

Erin O'Connor

Staff Writers



WESTFIELD With the transfer of F-15 fighter jets to Barnes Air National Guard Base, the Westfield base becomes the Nation's first line of defense for air-to-air missions.

"Our mission is changing," Mutti said. "Previously with the A-10s our mission was in two parts. One, closed air support and two, combat search and rescue. With the new air craft we are no longer to deploy troops but will work primarily for homeland defense through air superiority and air survival missions."

Mutti said pilots would fly sky-cap-aerial-routine patterns above politically significant areas.

"There is personal sentiment revolving around this transition, we've been flying A-10s for 28 years, since 1978," Mutti said. "We took their delivery right out of the Lockheed Martin factory [aerospace, electronics and defense company based in Bethesda, Maryland]. "

Mutti said there will be a general increase in base population by about ten percent.

"We are actually growing in strength," he said. "We had 15 A-10s assigned to us that included the two that have departed. We are receiving 18 F-15s as part of our transition. There will be a positive economic impact on the community," he added.

Mutti said the A-10s would be leaving two per month, the same way the F-15s are arriving.

"The next two jets to leave will probably be towards the end of March," Mutti said. "We are still excited to be flying. This is a different mission than the one we've been running, but the new one is similar to the one that was run by the Otis Air National Guard base on Cape Cod."

The Base's transition from A-10s to F-15s comes from the 2005 federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) recommendation that affected bases throughout the country.

BRAC voted August 26, 2005 to disband Otis Air National Guard Base, one of the nation's oldest Air Guard units on Cape Cod and transfer its fighter jets (the 18 F-15s) to the Barnes Municipal Airport.

State and federal officials signed an agreement in December of 2006 that preserved the Coast Guard's aviation presence at the Otis Air National Guard Base.

Mutti said that the transition from one jet to the other should be completed by October 2008. The base's A-10s are being moved to the 175th Fighter Wing at Martin State Airport in Maryland.

Mutti said the base is secure. "We will still be able to hold the air show every other year and we will still be giving tours and such," he said.

Mutti said the training for the 104th's pilots to fly an F-15 is already underway. "It takes a full year to be fully qualified to fly an F-15," Mutti said. "It takes six months of classroom training and then another six months of upgrade training."

Mutti said that the F-15 are designed around engines and will be louder but he does not anticipate a negative impact on the community.

"Once they are in which will be a year from now they will available for the public to view," he said.