FORT WAYNE – The commander of Fort Wayne’s Air National Guard base expects to learn soon whether the complex is on the Department of Defense’s chopping block.

“This Friday is when hopefully we will find out officially what’s going to happen to the 122nd Fighter Wing,” Col. David Augustine said Wednesday afternoon at a news conference at the base.

Media that cover the military reported this week that the 163rd Fighter Squadron at the Fort Wayne base – consisting of nearly 20 planes – is among five squadrons flying A-10 Warthog jets that the Pentagon will recommend closing in a cost-cutting move. The proposals will require congressional approval.

“It’s only speculation in the press,” Augustine said about reports using unnamed sources.

But base personnel realize federal budget cuts could affect the Ferguson Road complex.

“They know there are challenges out there, and it may impact us,” Augustine told reporters.

More than 1,200 people, including 314 full-time military personnel and 50 full-time state employees, work at the base. Spread over 30 buildings east of Fort Wayne International Airport, the force includes flying, maintenance, grounds and medical workers.

The federal government spends almost $60 million a year to maintain the base, Augustine said.

More than $43 million of the total was for pay and benefits in fiscal 2011.

In addition to flying combat missions, the 122nd Fighter Wing helps out in disasters and emergencies.

The head of the Indiana National Guard, Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, said in a statement: “The 122nd Fighter Wing is an integral part of the Indiana National Guard. We plan to use every resource available to ensure we keep it that way.”

Augustine said he, Umbarger, Gov. Mitch Daniels and Indiana lawmakers are working together for “a manned flying mission to remain at the base, preferably the A-10 Warthog.”

Sens. Dan Coats, R-Ind., Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd, issued statements in favor of retaining the 122nd Fighter Wing.

State and federal officials are “gathering the facts and making sure the 122nd Fighter Wing continues to fly missions out of Fort Wayne,” Stutzman said. “These men and women serve our nation, state and community. They deserve our continued support.”

The base is completing a three-year conversion from the F-16 fighter jet to the A-10, a plane used since the 1970s to support ground troops in combat. It earned a reputation as a “tank buster.” But the Defense Department has committed to the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a more versatile plane that performs well in air-to-air battles.

The 122nd Fighter Wing regularly flies 16 to 18 Warthogs and has plans to add a few more, Augustine said.

“The A-10 is the nation’s workhorse overseas,” he said about its role in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“All the guys really like the airplane, enjoy flying it,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Doyle, 163rd Flight Squadron commander.

Without naming them, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced last week that six of 60 tactical air squadrons would be decommissioned as part of $487 billion in military spending cuts over 10 years mandated by the Budget Control Act. The legislation, approved last summer by Congress, requires federal spending reductions to counter increases of up to $2.4 trillion in the nation’s debt limit.

Besides the Fort Wayne squadron, which started in 1947, news organizations have identified Air National Guard squadrons in Selfridge, Mich., and Ebbing, Ark., as being on the closings list.

In a speech last year, Lt. Gen. Harry Wyatt, director of the Air National Guard, said a base that flies out of a civilian airfield – as the 122nd Fighter Wing does – operates for much less money than does an Air Force base with its own field. The Fort Wayne base costs 28 cents compared with every federal dollar spent on an Air Force base, Augustine said.

“We are a value to the community and a value to this nation,” he said.

Augustine said the federal government has spent about $100 million on local base improvements in the past 10 years.

bfrancisco@jg.net