The Niagara USA Chamber has been a long time member of the Niagara Military Affairs Council. The NIMAC Board has been working vigorously on strategies to keep the air base open and fully staffed as the Federal government looks to ways to trim the military budget. Indeed, you may have read some good news about the Niagara Falls Airbase in the press recently (see article below). While we are cautiously optimistic, the issue is far from resolved. Rest assured, the Chamber is involved in analyzing this announcement to really figure out what this means to our community. We will communicate with you further as more information becomes available. _________________________________________________________________
Buffalo News: Drone role OK’d for Guard unit at Falls base
New mission authorized; may keep some C-130s defense bill for 2013
BY: JERRY ZREMSKI / NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF | @JerryZremski
WASHINGTON – An Air National Guard unit based in Niagara Falls will soon be directing unmanned drones on missions around the globe, and that unit also may get to keep at least some of the four C-130 cargo planes that the Air Force was threatening to take away less than a year ago.
That victory for the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station – and particularly for the Air National Guard’s 107th Airlift Wing that’s based there – comes in a fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill that a House-Senate conference committee finalized Tuesday. (more…)