Virginia plans to consolidate its Air National Guard and Army National Guard headquarters in Sandston by 2014, moving some 260 jobs from Blackstone and prompting the small town to cry foul, reports The Times-Dispatch. • The New Hampshire Air National Guard’s 157th Air Refueling Wing on Oct. 17 celebrated a ground-breaking for its new $7.3 million headquarters facility, which it expects to complete by 2010 as part of a long-term master plan begun in 1989, reports Foster’s Daily Democrat. • Also planning for the future is the Delaware ANG’s 166th Airlift Wing, which broke ground last week on a new $33 million aircraft hangar that the News Journal reports will be ready in 2011 and will accommodate the unit’s current C-130H transports and new J model Hercules.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.