First Lt. Jake Cadwell, with the 3rd Combat Communications Group, sets up a line-of-sight microwave transmitter.
U.S. Air Force
March 6, 2012 | 3:07 pm
Updated: U.S. Air Force is Shuttering Tinker Unit
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Joe Wertz
U.S. Air Force
First Lt. Jake Cadwell, with the 3rd Combat Communications Group, sets up a line-of-sight microwave transmitter.
On Monday, state leaders said Oklahoma military installations were “well-positioned” to survive defense cuts.
Survive, maybe, but perhaps not intact.
Today it was learned that The U.S. Air Force is planning to shutter a communications unit at Tinker Air Force Base that employs more than 600.
From D.C., The Oklahoman’s Chris Casteel:
The Air Force notified Sen. Jim Inhofe on Tuesday that the 3rd Combat Communications Group, known as the 3rd Herd, will be eliminated.
A Tinker spokesperson said a formal announcement will be issued at 4:30 p.m. today.
According to a U.S. military fact-sheet from August 2011, more than 700 people work in the 3rd Herd unit, which provides communications, computer and navigational systems and air traffic control.
On Monday, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz spoke at a Greater Oklahoma City Chamber luncheon about the aerospace defense industry. Neither mentioned the decision.
At the luncheon, Inhofe blasted a recent Air Force budget proposal that calls for $487 billion in cuts.
The Oklahoman’s Steve Lackmeyer from the luncheon:
Schwartz called Tinker Air Force Base a critical component to the nation’s defense and said he believes the military can meet its objective of maintaining preparedness with a “smaller force.”
Update: 5:02 p.m.
Here’s the press release from Air Force Public Affairs:
The Air Force is planning to retain another wing of the unit at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, Inhofe spokesman Jared Young tells the Associated Press.
The cuts are the biggest so far at an Oklahoma military base as the Defense Department adjusts to new budget priorities, the AP reports.
