WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Ohio congressional leaders vowed to challenge Air Force cuts to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Ohio Air National Guard they say would cost jobs and weaken national defense.

The Air Force, which announced the proposed cuts Tuesday, would eliminate 452 active-duty and civilian positions at the base this year and next, while the Air Force Reserve 445th Airlift Wing would see a net gain of 57 weekend and full-time reservist jobs.

The service-wide proposed drawdown would reduce eliminate nearly 10,000 positions across the Air Force. The cuts target 3,900 active-duty troops, 5,100 Air National Guardsmen and 900 Air Force reservists.

Congress must approve the reductions recommended by President Barack Obama’s adminisration before the cuts take effect this year and next.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said he planned to raise the issue of the cuts Wednesday with White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew. Brown said while the cuts at Wright-Patterson match the average across the service, he’s hopeful further consolidation could mean new job gains at the base.

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has questioned the decision to cut both manpower and aircraft in his home state.

“I remained concerned with the analysis that went behind these planned reductions,” he said in a statement. “The Obama administration has yet to provide their full analysis to justify the manner in which they propose these cuts. Their ‘balanced approach’ take 12 percent of their uniformed personnel cuts from Ohio, while the state is home to well under 3 percent of all Air Force active, reserve and Guard airmen. Clearly, there is something out of balance.”

The Ohio Air National Guard would be hit the hardest: The Air Guard calculates it would absorb a net loss of 794 jobs: 309 full-time and 485 weekend or part-time positions, once job gains in medical and intelligence specialties weigh in.

But those personnel cuts are less than Air Force estimates, which marked the reduction at more than 1,000 positions statewide.

The Air Force counts full-time reservists, who work as technicians during the week, and their weekend positions as two separate jobs, according to Ohio Air National Guard spokesman James Sims.

“We’re still early,” Sims said. “Ohio, along with other states, is going to be looking at alternative ways to set aside these cuts and do what’s best for the Air Force and the Air National Guard.”

In the Miami Valley, Springfield Air National Guard Base would lose 47 full-time reserve and civilian positions, both service estimates show.

Sims said those reductions could be offset, at least partially, with the future addition of medical and security jobs in Springfield, but he did not have an estimate of how many positions that might be or a timeline of when it could happen.

At Wright-Patterson, the job losses span the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, Air Force Materiel Command, Air Force Institute of Technology and the base’s Band of Flight musicians, among other places.

U.S. Rep. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek and a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said he’s disappointed the cuts appeared targeted at the Air National Guard.

The congressman said he will meet with Air Force leadership to push to find a new mission or additional duties for units facing reductions.

“While I understand the Air Force has a difficult decision-making process with the budget constraints and the winding down of two wars, I have concerns about the cuts that are being made towards the (Air) National Guard and reservists in particular,” he said in an interview with the Dayton Daily News. “It seems as though what the Air Force is doing is targeting the National Guard.”

The Air Guard has the dual mission to serve national needs and respond to regional natural disasters and bolster Homeland Security, he said.

U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he concerned about the president’s plan to “hollow out our armed forces.”

“While he continues to commit them to obligations around the world — he is reducing manpower and not investing in equipment,” he said in an email sent to the Dayton Daily News.

He said military leaders have testified to Congress “these cuts will be debilitating. Congress must look across the budget to equitably find solutions to get our finances in order.”

A spokesman for the Obama campaign has dismissed critics as off-base. The president is working to create the right size force while trying to reduce the national deficit, campaign spokesman Frank Benenati has said.

The Air Force has defended the cuts as the right balance between maintaining readiness and resources.

“We made a deliberate decision to avoid a ‘hollow force’ by prioritizing readiness over force structure,” Gen. Norman Schwartz, Air Force chief of staff, said in a statement. “A smaller, ready force is preferable to a larger force that is ill prepared because it lacks adequate resources.”

Michael Gessel, a Washington-based vice president of the Dayton Development Coalition, said the cuts at Wright-Patterson were proportional with others throughout the Air Force, and the Dayton-based organization has no plans to oppose the reduction plan at the base.

“The long term future of the base depends on maintaining missions and capability and that’s still solvent, that’s still strong,” he said. “We are actively working on long-range plans to maintain the mission capabilities and the strength of the base over the long term. We will work with the congressional delegation to maintain jobs at the base.”

The biggest single loss in Ohio would strike Mansfield Air National Guard Base. The Air Guard estimated 665 jobs, including 212 full-time and 443 part-time, would be eliminated under the Air Force’s plan.

The Air Force pegged the reduction at 807 positions, including 152 full-time jobs.

The 179th Airlift Wing assigned to Mansfield faces the elimination of four C-27J Spartan transport aircraft. The reduction would leave the unit without a flying mission.

At Rickerbacker Air National Guard Base near Columbus, 191 jobs would be eliminated, including 57 full-time and 134 weekend billets, the Air Guard said. The Air Force placed the loss at 198 positions. The service with pull out six KC-135 aerial refueling tankers assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing at the base, leaving 12 aircraft behind.

The Air Force Reserve would cut 130 weekend and full-time jobs at the 910th Airlift Wing at the Youngstown-Warren Air Reserve Station. The wing will retire six C-130H transport aircraft, but replace them with four newer C-130s.