Michigan Breaks Ground on $152 Million Selfridge Runway Project for Future F-15EX and KC-46 Missions
Lansing — Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer joined officials from the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA), federal, state and local elected leaders, and community stakeholders on October 28 to break ground on the $152 million runway project at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. The bipartisan project, funded earlier in 2026, will realign and expand the runway to prepare the base for its future F-15EX Eagle II fighter and KC-46 Pegasus tanker missions.
The Michigan National Guard's 127th Wing is transitioning from the A-10 Thunderbolt II to the F-15EX Eagle II, announced in April 2025, and from the KC-135 Stratotanker to the KC-46 Pegasus over the next five to seven years. Related work, carried out with the state, Macomb County and military partners, will relocate and reconstruct part of William P. Rosso Highway between Interstate 94 and Jefferson Avenue, with drainage and related changes.
Whitmer said Selfridge is essential to national defense, Michigan's economy and the surrounding communities. According to the governor's office, the base contributes an estimated $850 million to Michigan's economy, supports 30,000 jobs statewide and hosts more than 5,000 Air and Army National Guard and Reserve members, along with units from every armed service except the Space Force and Customs and Border Protection homeland-security operations. Michigan's defense industry overall contributes $30 billion and supports about 166,000 jobs.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: F-15EX「鹰II」战斗机（资料图）。Oregon National Guard 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / An F-15EX Eagle II (file photo). Photo by the Oregon National Guard, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
