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Oklahoma Air National Guard To Receive New Aircraft, Mission

U.S. Air Force / Senior Airman Elizabeth Rissmiller
The first MC-12 aircraft in-theater flies its first combat sortie June 10 from Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

The Oklahoma Air National Guard is getting a new aircraft, and a new mission.

A ceremony is planned Saturday at the Will Rogers Air National Guard Base in Oklahoma City to celebrate the arrival of the MC-12W aircraft.

The MC-12W is a medium-to low-altitude, twin-engine turboprop aircraft whose primary mission is providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support directly to ground forces serving overseas. The basing of the aircraft marks the return of flying operations to the Will Rogers Air National Guard Base for the first time since 2007.

Arrival of the aircraft will also transform the Oklahoma Air National Guard's 137th Air Refueling Wing to a Special Operations Wing. The wing will support Air Force Special Operations Command by providing airmen to execute global special operations intelligence missions.

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