Mountain Home commander briefs Idaho senators on readiness, training and base projects

Colonel Michael Farrow, commander of the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, briefed the Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee on the wing’s priorities, recent training and infrastructure projects, and said the base is preparing for a security environment in which the United States no longer automatically enjoys a technological overmatch.

Farrow told the committee that Mountain Home’s mission is to "provide mission-ready gunfighters to conduct operations anytime, anywhere," and said the wing is focusing on China as its pacing threat. "We no longer have the technological overmatch that we have enjoyed in recent decades," Farrow said, adding that the change in the strategic environment means the homeland “is no longer sanctuary.”

The presentation summarized major 2024 activities. Farrow said the base won the Commander in Chief Installation Excellence Award; the wing prototyped a portable solar power cell to run austere command centers for 24–48 hours; and the base used award funding—"just over $1,000,000," Farrow said—to refurbish dormitory kitchens, add industrial washers and dryers and improve day rooms.

Farrow described multiple training and operational efforts. The 389th Fighter Squadron was reported to be roughly halfway through a six-month deployment to the Central Command area of responsibility. Mountain Home ran a six-week validation exercise for a new force structure called the "deployable combat wing" (colloquially DAVE), followed by a two-week agile combat employment exercise called "Raging Gunfighter," in which personnel commanded and controlled jets from seven different locations and conducted 24-hour austere operations.

On range and airspace issues, Farrow said Mountain Home is pursuing approval to lower training airspace from the current floor of about 10,000 feet above sea level to 100 feet above ground to preserve low-altitude skills needed in highly contested environments. He said the effort has been ongoing since about 2013, that the wing has made the changes requested by the Federal Aviation Administration and that the matter is back with the FAA for final approval.

Farrow also updated the committee on water infrastructure work. He said a Snake River water pipeline that will diversify the base’s supply away from a depleting aquifer is scheduled to be complete this summer, and that a new water treatment plant—whose groundbreaking he showed in a slide with Governor Brad Little—was on track for completion by Oct. 26 (year not specified in the briefing).

Farrow discussed potential mission growth, including a continuing dialog with Qatar about basing roughly 12 jets and up to about 150 personnel at Mountain Home sometime between 2027 and 2030, depending on negotiations between the air forces. He also addressed questions about a possible Air Force plan to retire older F‑15 aircraft. Farrow said recent language in the National Defense Authorization Act prevents divestment of those aircraft through fiscal year 2027; he added that older aircraft often provide parts support while some airframes are sent to the boneyard.

Farrow closed with the wing’s "5 and Thrive" quality-of-life priorities—healthcare, housing, spouse employment, childcare and education—and highlighted an agreement to rebuild Stevenson Elementary School on base at roughly 20% of typical cost, attributing the 20% local share to a community project funding grant supported by Representative Simpson and thanking the state for school infrastructure funding. He also noted Stevenson received designation as a Purple Star school and said the wing and local partners had signed a community partnership agreement to improve quality of life for service members.

Committee members asked questions after the briefing, including a clarification request about what Farrow meant by losing overmatch and where retired aircraft go; Farrow answered both without providing classified detail. The committee then moved to an executive session to hear an unclassified intelligence briefing at the military’s request.