Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s (SASC) airland board, wants an update from the Air Force on the service’s planned establishment of a third Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) “power projection wing” at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., which has been the home of A-10 close air support jets that the Air Force plans to retire.
The Senate may soon consider S. 4638, the SASC’s version of the fiscal 2025 defense authorization bill, and Kelly filed a “power projection wing” amendment to the bill last week for possible introduction on the Senate floor.
The amendment calls on the secretary of the Air Force to brief the SASC and House Armed Services Committee (HASC) by March 1 “on the status of the stand-up of the power projection wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, including any additional funding or authority needed for such stand-up.”
Last August, the Air Force said that it would retire 78 A-10s at Davis-Monthan and that the 492nd Special Operations Wing–an AFSOC support wing–would move from Hurlburt Field, Fla., to Davis-Monthan where it would become a power projection wing “with all of AFSOC’s mission capabilities (strike, mobility, ISR, air/ground integration).”
The other two AFSOC power projection wings are the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt and the 27th Special Operations Wing–“The Steadfast Line”–at Cannon AFB, N.M.
Moving the 492nd from an AFSOC support to an AFSOC power projection wing “will enable the Air Force to regionally focus each power projection wing on a geographic combatant commander,” the Air Force said last year. “The transition will also allow AFSOC to further diversify its locations to protect against natural disasters by ensuring it can maintain its ability to respond to president-directed missions on very tight timelines.”
The wing’s new location at Davis-Monthan is also to facilitate AFSOC training over the Barry Goldwater Range.
As part of the move in the next several years, the 492nd at Davis-Monthan is to receive five Lockheed Martin [LMT] HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters transferred from Nellis AFB, Nev.; two squadrons of MC-130J Commando Solo II aircraft by Lockheed Martin; and OA-1K Armed Overwatch aircraft by L3Harris Technologies [LHX] and Air Tractor Inc.
Nearly two years ago, U.S. Special Operations Command awarded a contract to L3Harris worth up to $3 billion through July 2029 for 75 of the aircraft (Defense Daily, Aug. 1, 2022).