Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor met with members of the 188th Fighter Wing in Fort Smith Monday about ways the keep the base from being closed due to budget cuts in Washington.
The senator says several meetings are going on behind the scenes in Congress, and he's not giving up on keeping the 188th Fighter Wing open.
"There's not a lot of great news, but we are talking and we're working and we're sharing information with folks,” said Senator Pryor. “We think we're making some progress."
According to Senator Pryor, the future of the 188th is strictly a budget issue, so says he's trying to show Congress just how valuable the Fort Smith base is to the military.
"The 188th is the most cost efficient,” said Senator Pryor. “It's the most effective force we have of all the A-10s in the whole system. This is the most efficient, so why cut this one?"
He says Fort Smith has the lowest cost fighter base in the country and is an asset to the military with Fort Chaffee just miles away.
"We're trying to focus on military readiness,” said Senator Pryor. “We think that Fort Smith, the 188th has a great story to tell on readiness and on their capabilities and also on cost effectiveness."
As hundreds of Airmen prepare to deploy to Afghanistan this summer, he says he’s trying to make sure they’ll have a job when they return.
According to our partners at TheCityWire.com, cuts to the A-10 mission could result in about 300 job losses in Fort Smith.
The 188th are expected to lose their A-10 mission in fiscal year 2013. The unit is then expected to convert to operating the unmanned Predator aircraft.