Close to 50 full-time intelligence jobs once marked for elimination at the Springfield Air National Guard Base now appear to be safe, but the Ohio Air National Guard remains vulnerable in the final version of a defense spending bill in Congress.

However, any cuts to the Guard by the Air Force would first be scrutinized by a new independent commission, as specified in the National Defense Authorization Bill.

That means the Air Force would have to make a case for proceeding with plans to retire six KC-135 tankers and eliminate 200 jobs at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus.

“It will give us an opportunity to look at it from an objective view,” U.S. Rep. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, said Friday.

Earlier this month, Austria was among the bipartisan co-signers of a letter to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees pledging support for establishment of the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force, calling the Air Force’s proposed cuts “injudicious.”

In all, slightly more than 1,000 jobs looked to be up for elimination in the Ohio Air National Guard.

Language in the final, joint version of the bill — which passed the House Thursday and could be taken up by the Senate on Dec. 27 despite a veto threat from President Obama — met with the approval of the Ohio National Guard, Austria said.

“It was a good compromise,” he said. “I would’ve preferred the House language, which had a complete freeze and would’ve protected 1,000 Ohio jobs.”

With the Pentagon trying to accommodate $487 billion in spending cuts within the next decade, the Air Force looked to cut the Guard and Reserves.

White House press officials on Friday didn’t return an email seeking comment about the bill or its establishment of an Air Force commission.

Initial proposals in the president’s defense budget would’ve cost the Springfield base 47 jobs in its intelligence mission. In addition to remotely flying the MQ-1 Predator, 300 local guardsmen analyze data and imagery for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center.

Those jobs, however, were seemingly taken off the table for cuts.

“I do think this is the future of the Air Force,” Col. Gregory Schnulo, commander of the local 178th Fighter Wing, said of the base’s intelligence mission. “They’re growth opportunity jobs.”

Echoing that, the local base’s NASIC mission might be expanded.

“We’ve gone from those jobs being eliminated to maybe increasing the mission. So that’s good news for Springfield,” said Dave Landon, Austria’s communications director.

The president’s budget also aimed to end the C-27J Spartan mission in Mansfield, costing 800 jobs, and retire the six air-to-air refuelers in Columbus.

The White House has pledged to find Mansfield a new mission and noted that, even with the loss of six tankers, Rickenbacker in Columbus would remain open with 1,300 personnel intact.

“The Air Force proposal disproportionately cuts the Air National Guard, and especially the Ohio Air National Guard,” Austria reiterated Friday.

The final version of the defense bill in Congress protects Mansfield’s cargo planes for a year, Austria said. As part of the National Guard’s response to Hurricane Sandy in early November, the 179th Airlift Wing in Mansfield deployed a C-27J for the first time in a domestic mission.

The Senate version of the defense bill also prohibited the Air Force from eliminating any KC-135s in Columbus, but the Associated Press reported this week that the language was removed from the final joint version.

In defense of the Air National Guard, Austria said the Guard provides 25 percent of the Air Force’s capability at 6 percent of the cost — a savings to taxpayers.

“Quite honestly,” he said, “it appears as though they were trying to put the active duty before the National Guard.”