The Department of Defense released an accounting of where it moved its aircraft in response to Hurricane Ian, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on the west coast of Florida on Sept. 28.
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., was evacuated, and other bases were placed on a heightened state of alert and instructed their personnel to shelter ahead of the storm. The Air Force and other services moved aircraft from several military installations to keep them out of harm’s way. Many commercial airports in the storm’s path also closed and moved airliners.
Individual Air Force bases have detailed some aircraft movements, but the Pentagon provided a list to the press Sept. 29 to more fully account for aircraft movements across the joint force, though the information may be incomplete. The Defense Department had yet to fully assess the damage, which was likely to continue to mount due to flooding. According to the Pentagon, information about Air Force activities was current as of the evening of Sept. 27.
- Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.: F-22s and T-38s moved to Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.; F-35s to Barksdale Air Force Base, La.
- Hurlburt Field, Fla.: AC-130Js, MC-130Js, MC-130Hs to Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; U-28s to Cannon Air Force Base, N.M.; A-29s to Kansas City, Mo.
- Jacksonville International Airport (Florida Air National Guard): F-15s to New Orleans, La.
- MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.: KC-135s to Bangor Air National Guard Base, Maine, and Pease Air National Guard Base, N.H.; UH-60s to Miami, Fla.
- Moody Air Force Base, Ga.: A-10s to Barksdale Air Force Base, La.
- Patrick Space Force Base: C-130s & HH-60s to Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark.; HH-60s to Orlando Convention Center, Fla.; UH-1s to Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The DOD also detailed non-Department of the Air Force moves, including 71 aircraft from Naval Air Station Jacksonville and 11 aircraft from Naval Air Station Key West that were evacuated to undisclosed locations. The Navy also moved four littoral combat ships and two cruiser-destroyers based at Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville to undisclosed locations. The remaining Navy ships are in “heavy weather moor,” according to the Pentagon, which said the Army and the Marines did not relocate any major assets.
The figures, however, are movements that were done ahead of the storm or just as it was making landfall. Damage from the storm has been severe, and flood damage will be a major concern in the days and weeks ahead.
“This storm is having broad impacts across the state and some of the flooding you’re going to see in areas hundreds of miles from where this made landfall are going to set records,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said on Sept. 29.
President Joe Biden declared a major disaster Sept. 29. Some fatalities due to the storm had already been confirmed.
“This is going to require years of effort to be able to rebuild and to come back,” DeSantis said.
As of the morning of Sept. 29, Florida had 4,818 Guard members on State Active Duty (SAD); Louisiana had 83; Tennessee had 15; and New York had 11, the National Guard Bureau told Air & Space Forces Magazine.