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HARRISON TOWNSHIP — The Department of Defense has selected Selfridge Air National Guard Base to receive brand-new air-to-air refueling planes, pending an environmental review scheduled for 2025.
A total of 12 new KC-46A Pegasus tanker planes will begin arriving at the base in Macomb County in 2029 as the U.S. Air Force begins divesting itself of the current KC-135 Stratotankers in 2027. According to an Air Force spokesperson, current Selfridge flight and maintenance personnel will be given the opportunity to retrain for the KC-46A from the existing KC-135 and A-10 Thunderbolt II missions.
According to the Air Force, KC-46As have improved cargo, communication and refueling capabilities, allowing both boom and probe-and-drogue refueling in the same flight.
Local officials and the state’s congressional delegation lauded the decision to base the planes at Selfridge.
“The 12 KC-46A refueling tankers — a larger unit than the eight KC-135s now at Selfridge — are next-generation aircraft that will strengthen American defense operations and capabilities for future threats, particularly as we prepare for potential conflicts in the Indo-Pacific,” said a joint statement from Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and 13 members of Michigan’s congressional delegation. “Operating these tankers out of Selfridge will ensure the base — and Michigan — remain essential to U.S. military strategy while supporting local jobs and our state’s robust defense sector. Our bipartisan coalition pushed for basing KC-46s and a future fighter mission at Selfridge, holding dozens of meetings and calls with senior Air Force officials and hosting them in Michigan to emphasize the importance of our state and Selfridge to national security. Our delegation is grateful to the Air Force for their professionalism throughout this process.”
In its statement, the delegation says the Air Force has not ruled out a fighter mission to replace the current A-10 mission. The plane is currently slated for divestment in 2026 and attempts to secure an F-35 Lightning II program have been unsuccessful. Support for Selfridge has been a bipartisan effort with Whitmer, a Democrat, pledging $100 million to fund a northward runway expansion while U.S. Rep. John James, R-Shelby Township, was able to get funding for expanded F-15EX Eagle II production in the House draft of the 2024 federal defense budget.
“The feedback that I got from leaders at the base is that the F-15EX is the airframe they saw the highest likelihood of gaining,” James said previously in 2023. “The goal here is to make sure that we get the most likely airframe, the most likely fighter on the base before the A-10s roll off. I don’t trust that, if the A-10s leave before a fighter is on the base, that we won’t get left behind.”
The F-15EX provisions did not make it into the final 2024 defense budget but James and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, released statements saying they remain committed to bringing F-15EXs to the base.
Other investments into Selfridge’s future include a new $28 million, 41,900-square-foot hangar that broke ground in May 2023.
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