McConnell AFB in Wichita, Kan. beat out Fairchild AFB to be the preferred base for the next generation KC-46A tanker, it was announced early Wednesday morning.

"This is an extremely unfortunate decision by the Air Force. Fairchild Air Force Base has a strong tradition as an integral part of our national defense and is ideally located, particularly as U.S. strategy calls for directing greater attention to the Pacific theater," Gov. Jay Inslee said.

McConnell, home to the 22nd Air Refueling Wing, was competing with Fairchild, Altus AFB in Oklahoma and Grand Forks AFB in North Dakota to become the preferred tanker base. Additionally, McConnell was competing with Altus to be the primary training base for the tanker. Since McConnell was selected as the primary tanker base, Altus AFB was selected as the training base, according to the Wichita Eagle.

WMUR 9, the AFB affiliate in Manchester, New Hampshire, reported that Pease Air National Guard Base was selected as the Air National Guard base to receive KC-46A tankers. The 157th Air Refueling Wing of the New Hampshire Air National Guard is based at Pease.

Spokane business and civic leaders are anxiously awaiting an anticipated announcement Wednesday as to which Air Force Bases could be home to the KC-46A tanker.

Fairchild Air Force Base is one of four bases under consideration for being the first in the Air Force fleet to bed down the next generation tanker, which will replace the Eisenhower-era KC-135 Stratotanker.

The other bases under consideration are Altus AFB in Oklahoma, McConnell AFB in Kansas and Grand Forks AFB in North Dakota.

Altus is home to the 97th Air Mobility Wing, which flies a mix of C-17 transports and KC-135 tankers, while McConnell and Fairchild are home to air refueling wings -- the 2nd ARW at McConnell and the 92nd at Fairchild -- which exclusively fly KC-135 tankers. Grand Forks, which has been host to both ICBM squadrons and a bomb wing in the past, stood down from flight operations when its tankers were reassigned to other units in a realignment move 2010.

Air Force officials are expected to announce Wednesday which of the four bass will be one of the first to receive the new KC-46 tankers, which bring with them the potential for new construction and jobs.

A Horizon Q400 commuter plane landed safely at Spokane International Airport Monday afternoon after declaring an in-flight emergency with one blown tire on its landing gear.

Horizon Flight 2358 left Portland International Airport at 3:33 p.m. and was scheduled to touch down around 4:30; shortly before it was to land an emergency was declared due to a blown tire. Its arrival time was pushed back as the aircraft circled the airport.

Spokane Airport spokesman Todd Woodard confirmed there was a tire blown on the aircraft and added there are two tires on each set of landing gear as a redundancy measure.

Fire and rescue crews were mobilized to the runway where the aircraft safely touched down a few minutes after 5 p.m.