Senator Schmitt Questions Air Force Officials On Missouri’s Role in American Air Dominance

WASHINGTON – Earlier today, Senator Schmitt questioned United States Secretary of the Air Force, Dr. Troy Meink, as well as Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General David Allvin, Jr. Senator Schmitt pressed them on how the Air Force is working to ensure the next generation of air dominance to counter the rise of China, in addition to what role Missouri can play in the next generation of American air capabilities.

Watch the Senator’s full remarks HERE.

Senator Schmitt specifically highlighted his disappointment that 139th Airlift Wing of the Missouri Air National Guard was again passed over for fielding C-130Js to replace their aging fleet of C-130Hs. Senator Schmitt asked General Allvin to work with him to field C-130Js as quickly as possible.

Senator Eric Schmitt – “I was disappointed that the 139th Airlift Wing did not get the C130 J’s. St Joe’s is ready. They do, ironically, do the training for other like when the country of India, comes in to train on the C130 J’s they [St. Joe’s] do the training for the C130 J’s, but do not have the C130 J’s. I’m not going to put you on the spot right now on this, but we thought it was going to happen this go around. Will you commit to working with me to make sure that actually we land that plane?”

Chief of Staff of the Air Force General David Allvin, Jr- “Senator, 100 percent, what we do, we can provide to you is an understanding of where the areas were, where it didn’t compete well, and where it did compete well. That’s what we try do it with all of these when we go from the enterprise definition, to the candidate location, to the preferred location, to be able to understand where some of those discriminators were in and give you a sense of. ‘Hey’, if there’s something that might make this particular location more competitive next time, this is where it might be, I think we owe you that, and we’ll certainly be happy to do so.”

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