Oregon National Guard plans airspace training changes
The Oregon National Guard is scheduled to hold a number of public meetings around the state to showcase proposed changes to training areas currently utilized by the Oregon Air National Guard.
The meetings are part of the public hearing process required by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and the Council on Environmental Quality regulatory guidance.
Oregon Military Department officials say the changes to the training areas will provide adequately sized and configured airspace within close proximity to Oregon Air National Guard flying units to support advanced 21st-century air-to-air tactical fighter technologies and training mission requirements.
According to Oregon Air National Guard Lt. Col. Alaric Michaelis, the airspace is needed to fulfill the missions of both of Oregon’s fighter wings; the 142nd Fighter Wing in Portland, and the 173rd Fighter Wing at Kingsley Field, in Klamath Falls.
“This training airspace will help us produce the best air-to-air combat pilots, and serve our state and nation in times of peace and war,” Alaric said. “It also serves the mission of the 142nd Fighter Wing, as it provides unequalled, mission-ready aerospace superiority.”
The proposed changes include modifications and additions to military training airspace located over northwestern, north-central and south-central Oregon and the Pacific Ocean. In addition, minor portions of the proposed action would be located above a small area of northwestern Nevada and the southwestern-most corner of Washington.
The changes apply only to the airspace, and not the ground or water under the training area borders.
The Portland unit is responsible for the Aerospace Control Alert mission, which extends from the Canadian border to northern California and comprises the entire states of Oregon and Washington, out into the Pacific ocean. The Klamath Falls unit is the only F-15 training school in the entire Air Force, training pilots from the Air Force, Reserve and Air National Guard.
The meetings are scheduled for the following locations and dates:
– August 11 , 2015, 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., Tillamook Air Museum, 6030 Hangar Rd, Tillamook, OR 97141
– August 12 , 2015, 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., The Loft at the Red Building, 20 Basin St, Astoria, OR 97103
– August 14 , 2015, 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., Condon High School, 210 East Bayard St, Condon, OR 97823
– August 15 , 2015, 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., Harney County Center, 484 North Broadway Ave, Burns, OR 97720
– Monday, August 17 , 2015, 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., Crook County Library, 175 NW Meadow Lakes Dr, Prineville, OR 97754
For more details on the proposed changes to the training areas, please visit http://www.142fw.ang.af.mil/ or http://www.173fw.ang.af.mil/
