MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. -- McConnell Air Force Base received aircraft today which were evacuated due to Hurricane Ian.
Nine KC-46A Pegasus aircraft arrived at McConnell Sept. 29, from the 916th Air Refueling Wing, an Air Force Reserve unit stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.
Hurricane Ian made landfall Wednesday near Cayo Costa, Fla., as a category 4 storm. It then crossed the Florida peninsula in a northeastern direction and has reemerged today in the Atlantic Ocean, as a tropical storm. Ian is expected to strengthen overnight back to hurricane status, according to the National Hurricane Center. Projected paths from the center have the storm making landfall Friday along the Carolina coast. As such the 916th ARW evacuated nine KC-46s to McConnell, out of an abundance of caution, and to preserve their mission capability.
The 916th ARW is a unit McConnell personnel are familiar with, as both the 916th ARW and McConnell’s 22nd Air Refueling Wing operate the KC-46. Airmen from both bases combined to complete a KC-46 Employment Capability Exercise to Moron Air Base, Spain in March and April 2022 to evaluate how the KC-46 will provide Rapid Global Mobility capabilities for future Joint operations.
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