Good for Kansas Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran and Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Wichita, for pushing the Air Force to select McConnell Air Force Base as the main operation base for the new KC-46A tanker. In a letter this month to Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, the lawmakers touted how McConnell “is the option whose location, capacity and mission will best meet the needs of the U.S. Air Force.” They noted that McConnell’s geographic location provides the “strategic flexibility needed to carry out a variety of missions, both overseas and at home,” and argued that the base has the hangar, runway and ramp space to support tanker operations. Wichita was supposed to help build the new tankers, but Boeing decided to leave town and move the production work elsewhere.
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