Special use airspace request granted for Windham County, portions of southern Rutland and Windsor counties
The Chugs Temporary Military Operations Area (TMOA) will be in effect in the vicinity of Windham County, including portions of southern Windsor and Rutland counties in Vermont June 1-30. The TMOA supports Exercise Eagle Claw 21-01.
The Eagle Claw exercise is designed to provide training in basic fighter maneuvering and air combat maneuvering (air-to-air combat) in a clean jet configuration to comply with the Air National Guard’s training objectives. Clean configuration means that no external fuel tanks or pods are attached underneath the wings. With no external fuel tanks, the ability for the fighter aircraft to transit long distances to and from other existing special use airspace for training is severely limited.
Establishing the Chugs TMOA that is geographically closer to Barnes Air National Guard Base Westfield, Massachusetts, will maximize pilots’ training time and enable the 104th Fighter Wing to satisfy Air National Guard training requirements.
Projected typical use is 12 sorties per day, with expected average sortie duration of less than one hour. Use of the TMOA will be from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. During periods when the TMOA is not needed for training, the airspace will be returned to the FAA controlling agency (Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center). Estimated use is 6 hours per day.
