COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Several F-22 Raptors will be stationing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base at the 121st Air Refueling Wing, while Hurricane Matthew makes landfall.
The 121st maintains a national disaster reception plan which supports hurricane evacuations for five wings around the country. They recently provided evacuation support to A-10
Thunderbolt IIs from Moody AFB, in Georgia when Hurricane Hermine hit the state in late August.
The fighter jets arrived at the airport Wednesday, and are expected to remain stationed until a time to return has been determined.
A commander with the 94th fighter squadron told NBC4, “Right now the mission at hand is getting the combat assets that the American taxpayers have given us and trusted us with and getting them out of the way of a hurricane.”
Officials said they have agreements with multiple bases throughout the Department of Defense to recover in case of something like a hurricane.