A U.S. Air Force HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter sits on the flight line at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in May. The Jolly Green IIs are replacing the similar HH-60G Pave Hawk, the staple helicopter of the 55th Rescue Squadron since 2003 and is a distinctive aircraft used by the U.S. Air Force’s rescue community.
F rom Warthogs to Hercs — and Jolly Green helicopters.
As the Arizona Daily Star’s David Wichner reported last week, the Air Force has selected Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to host a major new endeavor — a Special Operations Command Wing that’s a key component of the Air Force’s “power projection” strategy.
The moves are part of the Special Operations Command’s reimagining of overseas operations in an era of complex, fast-moving combat tactics.
As a part of the changes, Davis-Monthan’s three squadrons of A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes are scheduled to be retired by the end of the decade. The long-lived A-10 “Warthogs” are familiar and beloved to many Tucsonans. But we’ll have many new types of wings — and rotors — to get used to.
The new lineup will include multiple MC-130J squadrons. The MC-130J is based on the enormous workhorse C-130 Hercules transport. Also arriving will be a squadron of the new OA-1K Armed Overwatch aircraft.
In addition, two Special Tactics squadrons will relocate to D-M, one from McChord Air Force Base in Washington state and one from Pope Army Airfield in North Carolina. And two squadrons will relocate from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, bringing with them the Air Force’s new combat search and rescue helicopter, the HH-60W “Jolly Green II.”
The Air Force says that the new and reconstructed “power projection” wings will enable a range of special operations missions, from airborne strike and surveillance to ground forces. Each will be affiliated with an overseas command, like U.S. European Command or U.S. Central Command, to build regional expertise and, as the Air Force Times recently put it, “become a go-to group of airmen for that area’s toughest missions.”
Interestingly, it appears that climate change may have played a role in the Air Force decision to locate the new wing at D-M. Several of its component units will be moving from Hurlburt Field in the Florida Panhandle — to protect them from the worsening threat of hurricanes that hit the Gulf of Mexico each year.
Indeed, the joint statement announcing the Air Force’s decision from Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema and Reps. Ruben Gallego and Juan Ciscomani mentioned “year-round flying weather” as well as “extensive training range space and proximity to other military bases” as reasons D-M was selected.
Of course, the Tucson base will continue to fulfill other missions — including the storage and refurbishment of many of the country’s warplanes.
While there are doubtless many reasons, logistical and strategic, that Davis-Monthan was chosen for this new mission, we believe that the carefully cultivated and long-nurtured relationship between city and base has to be a big factor as well.
However Tucsonans feel about U.S. foreign policy and the overall mission of our military forces, it is entirely in the city’s interest to continue and grow that relationship. The arrival of the revitalized and retasked 492nd Special Operations Wing means jobs. It means support for literally hundreds of off-base small businesses. And it means, now and in the future, that the Air Force’s connection to Tucson, one airman at a time, will be deepened.
The economic value of that relationship is so enormous as to be incalculable, and the news that D-M will play a key role in the emerging new Air Force is unsurprising but completely welcome.
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