RAPID CITY - A new commander at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota is expected to take over next month.

The Rapid City Journal reports that Col. Kevin Kennedy, the director of the Air Force Strategic Studies Group at the Pentagon, will replace Col. Mark Weatherington.

Weatherington has served for two years as commander of the 28th Bomb Wing.

Kennedy has worked in the Air Force as a B-1 instructor pilot, squadron weapons officer and weapons school instructor. He has 3,200 in the B-1 and T-38 airplanes.

Before attaining his post in the pentagon, Kennedy served as 28th Bomb Wing Chief of Safety, 34th Bomb Squadron Commander, and 28th Operations Group Deputy Commander.

Base officials would not talk about Weatherington's next assignment.

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