(File photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – The 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base will be executing a homeland defense exercise this weekend beginning today. Their flying should reflect a standard drill weekend with the exception of the fact that thye will be flying on Friday and Saturday and not flying on Sunday.
“We do not want to alarm the residence around the local area who may be startled by the increase in aircraft activity during this training exercise,” said Senior Master Sgt. Robert J. Sabonis, public affairs Manager for the 104th Fighter Wing. “Aircraft may fly throughout New England, as well as over the states of New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut.”
In addition, the 104th is scheduled to conduct evening training flights from April 14-17. The evening. missions will launch from Barnes at or around 5 p.m. with expected landings around 6:30 p.m.
“We do not want to alarm the residence around the local area of Westfield who may be startled by the increase in aircraft activity during the evening hours,” said Sabonis. “The evening missions are a critical part of our required reoccurring training.”
“The night training is required to ensure our pilots are ready to respond to any airborne threat in the Northeastern United States, at any time, in any condition,” he said. “With our 24/7 alert posture, our Airmen could respond to an airborne threat at any time protecting one quarter of the nation’s population and one third of the its Gross Domestic Product.”
“We often do not have the luxury of advance notice,” he said. “When we can prepare for training missions such as these, we will try to share as much information as we can.”
