HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – The Pentagon is considering moving the 103rd Fighter Wing from the Bradley Air National Guard Base to Westfield, Mass., military officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Connecticut National Guard spokesman Maj. John Whitford said officials recently received word of the proposal and have vowed to fight it.

As part of its Base Realignment and Closure plan, the Pentagon is considering combining the 103rd with the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, Whitford said.

“We received notification that the 103rd is being looked at,” Whitford said. “But right now there’s nothing in black and white that the 103rd is being affected.”

Both units operate A-10 “Warthog” ground attack jets. The 103rd employs 900 people at the base in East Granby and is home to 17 A-10s. The 104th employs about 1,000 people and is home to 18 A-10s.

East Granby and Westfield are about 30 miles apart.

Col. Karen Platt, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts National Guard, said officials there have not received word of such a plan.

Barnes officials recently opened a new, $2 million, 10,800-squre-foot security facility at the base.

Sen. Joe Lieberman will visit the East Granby base Friday to talk to employees about the importance of keeping the unit in Connecticut.

In January, Connecticut’s congressional delegation wrote to Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, opposing the plan.

“Let us be clear of our strong position: The numerous advantages of the 103rd Fighter Wing’s current home at Bradley Air National Guard Base make it difficult to justify its relocation,” lawmakers wrote.

Whitford said Maj. Gen. William Cugno, adjutant general of the Connecticut National Guard, believes that if the two units are consolidated they should be consolidated in Connecticut.

“We have sufficient space to accommodate up to 45 more planes without new construction, so we could easily do that,” Whitford said.

The final decision on which bases to close will not be made until next year, and the base closure plan is expected to be a hot political issue here and in Washington.

Military officials have said there is no target number of bases to be closed, but Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said he believes the military has about 20 percent to 25 percent excess capacity at its bases.

Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood and Air Force spokeswoman Marriane Miclat said no decisions have been made.

“We’re in the mode of internal deliberations and data gathering and assessing and reviewing,” Flood said. “That’s all we’re doing right now.”

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Associated Press Writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

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