After months of uncertainty surrounding Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, optimism was at the forefront of Thursday afternoon’s annual State of the Military event hosted by the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce at the Goldsboro Event Center.
Chamber President Scott Satterfield moderated the event, while Col. Morgan P. Lohse, Commander of the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson, Col. Diane Patton, of the 916th Air Refueling Wing, Dr. Phillip Moye, the head of the Military Affairs Committee, and Henry Smith, the Chairman of Friends of Seymour also spoke.
Numerous elected officials, first responders, and notable community members attended Thursday’s event.
Rumors and speculation surrounded the future of Seymour Johnson and the 4th Fighter Wing for months before Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) secured a provision in June that fully prohibits the Air Force from divesting F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base through 2029.
Col. Lohse described in detail the Air Force’s future plans for both the F-15 and Seymour Johnson.
“Seymour Johnson is going to be the long-term home of the F-15,” Col. Lohse said. “In terms of our F-15 fleet, right now some have F-15Cs that are largely at guard bases. Fresh off the line are some F15-EXs, those are not supposed to come here to Seymour right now as part of the current plan. What’s going to happen to Seymour is we’re going to bring all of the training that happens for the F-15, it’s going to happen out of Seymour. There’s another location where they do training for the F-15, that’s at Klamath Falls in Oregon. We’re going to do all the training here on our F-15Es.”
Seymour Johnson will also be the home of training for the F-15EX before those pilots are sent out to other bases. Lohse noted that Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has paused the divestment of any jets from Seymour Johnson during the 2025 fiscal year.
Col. Lohse also detailed organizational changes coming to Seymour Johnson. Currently, Seymour Johnson owns both the garrison running the installation at the 4th Fighter Wing, as well as the mission.
In the summer of 2025, Seymour Johnson will transition to a mission-oriented wing known as a Deployable Combat Wing and a Garrison and infrastructure-related wing known as the Air Base Wing.
Col. Lohse also highlighted the diligent work in April by members of the 335th Fighter Squadron from Seymour Johnson and the 494th Squadron from Langley Air Force base, who shot down over 60 Iranian drones in the Middle East to defend Israel.
“It was an incredible night, a great night for the F-15E,” Col. Lohse said. “We worked as a cohesive team to defend one of our closest allies. They continue to deter further action. That’s success in my mind when we can deter further action from happening.”
The State of the Military event also included a panel moderated by Satterfield with discussion topics including deployments, education, childcare, and civilian employers.
