First F-16s leave Hill AFB for South Dakota

HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Two F-16 Fighting Falcons bid goodbye to Davis County Tuesday in standard F-16 fashion: They roared into the sky over Layton and banked.

But instead of flying west toward the Utah Test and Training Range, they flew northeast, to South Dakota, where they will have a new home with the South Dakota National Guard.

In coming months, 20 more F-16s will depart for South Dakota and two will depart for Italy as part of a major restructuring effort by the U.S. Air Force.

Under the plan, a total of 259 aircraft will be retired, including F-16s, F-15s and A-10s. The Air Force expects to save $355 million in fiscal 2010 and $3.5 billion over the next five fiscal years.

The savings will be used for modernizing planes, procuring munitions and funding various technologies, according to an Air Force news release.

South Dakota Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Reid Christopherson said in March that the planes from Hill will replace the Guard's aging F-16 squadron.

Christopherson said pilots, maintenance personnel and the air crew are excited about having newer planes, but there's an issue of pride, too.

"It will solidify our future as a fighter unit in the Air National Guard," Christopherson said.

The departure of 24 planes that make up the 34th Fighter Squadron from the 388th Fighter Wing means that the 34th will be inactivated.

"It is not a permanent closure of the 34th," said Col. David Hathaway, vice commander of the 388th fighter wing.

Most of the members of that squadron — also known as the "Rude Rams" — deployed to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in January and are expected to return to Utah in May.

Two squadrons — 48 F-16s — will remain at Hill Air Force Base.

The wing has known since June 2009 that it would lose one squadron and about 600 personnel through restructuring and retraining.

Hathaway acknowledged that the U.S. government is accepting some risk by retiring fighter planes, but it's a risk that will "enable today's fight and allow us to prepare for tomorrow's fight," he said.

The 388th Fighter Wing is on the Air Force's short list to receive the next generation fighter plane, the F-35 Lightning II. The Air Force is currently conducting a study on the jets' potential environmental impact at Hill Air Force Base and bases in South Carolina, Vermont, Idaho and Florida.

If Hill is selected to house a squadron of F-35s, Hathaway said, he would expect the 34th to be reactivated.

The study's draft environmental impact statement is expected to be completed before summer, and once it is distributed, further public comment will be accepted before the final impact statement is published in early 2011.

A record of decision is expect within about 30 days of the final impact statement.

For more information, go to the study's website at www.airforcef-35opseis.com.

Contributing: Scott G. Winterton

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