RAMSTEIN, Germany - The only Gulfstream III jet in operation in the U.S. Army made its final flight back to the United States from Ramstein Air Base in Germany July 23, prior to being decommissioned.
The "Lexington," which gets its name for the Revolutionary War battle that took place in Massachusetts in 1775, began its Army career in 1988 when it was fielded to serve as the primary aircraft for the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff of the Army.
Following its replacement with a Gulfstream 550, the "Lexington" earned its new home in 2004, when it was sent to the U.S. Army Priority Air Transport - Europe Flight Detachment at Ramstein Air Base to be a part of a rotational pool of aircraft supporting theater commanders in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
"The mission (of USAPAT-EFD) has been really important to the theater commanders that this aircraft supported," said Col. Timothy Brown, the commander of U.S. Army Air Operations Group. "This aircraft in particular is critical because it has been an enabler for our senior leaders to circulate around the battlefield and spend time visiting with troops on the frontline."
However, because of the age of the "Lexington" and the increased operating costs associated with maintaining an older aircraft, the Army has decided it's time to lay to rest the Gulfstream III.
"Now that the aircraft is coming to the end of its expected life, there would be a significant investment to keep it flying," said Brown. "It would be too expensive, certainly in the current funding environment, to keep this aircraft flying, so we're getting ready to turn it in."
Sending the "Lexington" back to the states is the first step in the deactivation of USAPAT-EFD, which is scheduled to fully deactivate by July 2015.
"It's been a good assignment and a great experience," said Staff Sgt. Dexter Nevels, an aviation operations noncommissioned officer with USAPAT-EFD and a native of Akron, Ohio. "I hate to see the unit shut down, but it's the Army, and you have to deal with changes."
While the aircraft is going away, the mission of having capable long-range jets to ensure the timely movement of senior personnel has not gone away.
"Overall the mission will be handled by a Gulfstream IV out of the Pacific Flight Detachment, a Gulfstream V and two Gulfstream 550s located at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland," said Brown. "The mission will continue and will just be done by a fleet of four aircraft initially and then three aircraft eventually."
Over the course of the next year, USAPAT-EFD will focus on sending away what equipment it has left and reassigning Soldiers to other units throughout the Army.
"It's definitely a hidden gem in the Army and a bitter-sweet ending," said Nevels. "However, everyone's going to go off and do bigger and better things."
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