S.C. air bases still important in fight abroad

Official sees pace remaining stable for years

F-16 fighters from Shaw Air Force Base patrolled the skies over the Eastern Seaboard. Giant C-17 transport planes at Charleston Air Force Base readied to move troops and supplies.

Since then, the Air Force has played a support role in America’s two wars, backing up troops on the ground.

But that doesn’t mean the Air Force is on autopilot. As the military begins to withdraw from Iraq and build up forces in Afghanistan, South Carolina’s three air bases and their 11,000 airmen remain engaged in the fight.

Some examples:

McEntire’s Joint National Guard Base’s fighters are preparing for combat again, heading to Southwest Asia sometime in 2010.

Members of the 9th Air Force headquarters at Shaw shuttle back and forth to U.S. Central Command operations in the Persian Gulf, guiding the air wars over Iraq and Afghanistan.

Charleston’s big jets continue to fly troops and gear, as well as carry out humanitarian aid missions around the globe.

In addition, both Shaw and McEntire are preparing for next decade’s arrival of the Air Force’s newest fighter, the F-35.

The pace of activity at the state’s bases probably won’t let up for years, said Gen. Arthur Lichte, one of the Air Force’s top commanders.

"What do I see in the future?" Lichte asked. "I see pretty high [operations] tempo … until things settle down on this global war on terror.

"And, I’m not sure we’re going to see it die down in the near term."

‘Fresh knees and backs’

At the S.C. Air National Guard’s 169th Fighter Wing, based at McEntire, commanders said the unit has been notified to deploy in May 2010 to Southwest Asia for 120 days. The exact location has not been announced.

It will be the unit’s first combat deployment since 2003 during the "shock and awe" days of the Iraq war.

The upcoming deployment will mark the first combat test for the Air Force’s "active associate" program.

As part of that program, about 150 active-duty airmen – pilots, maintainers, technicians and bomb-loaders – are training alongside the 1,200 members of the Air Guard.

The program aims to take advantage of the S.C. Air Guard’s experienced personnel, who generally are more experienced than their active-duty counterparts. But McEntire also benefits, said Lt. Col. Keith Miller.

"It’s good to have some fresh knees and backs up and down the flight line," said Miller, the project officer.

The McEntire unit’s mission also will be different from the last time its jets flew over Iraq.

The primary job of McEntire’s F-16 squadron, like the three F-16 fighter squadrons at Shaw, is to use sophisticated electronic gear to seek out and destroy enemy air defenses such as surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery.

But few terrorists and Taliban fighters have such weapons. So the gear is being used to detect mines and bombs buried in and along roads used as convoy routes.

When Shaw’s 55th Fighter Squadron was in Iraq over the winter, its jets flew the convoy route mission in addition to providing close-air support for ground troops.

Much of the fighting is in the villages scattered across the Iraqi desert and tucked into Afghanistan’s towering mountains. Air attacks require precision and restraint to protect innocent civilians, commanders said.

Besides fighters and bombers, the Air Force is relying on unmanned aerial vehicles that can be used to drop bombs, launch rockets and gather intelligence about insurgent forces.

Gathering more and better information about what’s happening on the ground should reduce the possibility of accidentally bombing civilians, whose support the U.S. military needs, commanders said.

"In this war, I think the less bombs we drop the better," said Col. Mike Rothstein, operations director for the 9th Air Force, which also is headquarters for U.S. Central Command Air Forces.

‘Better than a workhorse’

As the wars grind on and about 21,000 more troops and their gear are moved to Afghanistan, Charleston airmen and the C-17 transport planes that they fly remain in motion.

The C-17, capable of hauling a load equivalent to four 18-wheelers, has been "better than a workhorse" in the airlift business, said Lichte, chief of the Air Mobility Command.

The planes fly troops into and out of combat zones, and carry equipment, supplies and ammunition to the troops. In short order, they can be converted into an ambulance on wings, carrying wounded troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

C-17s also are used for humanitarian missions, delivering relief supplies to disaster areas and moving evacuees.

Col. John "Red" Millander, commander of the active-duty 437th Airlift Wing, noted the pace has slowed because the primary supply flights to Iraq and Afghanistan have been moved back to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

The number of sorties flown by Charleston-based planes has dropped slightly – to 18,000 in 2008 from a high of 20,000 in 2006.

Charleston had been the supply hub since February 2003, after two sections of an aerial port at Dover collapsed following a record snowfall.