SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — Indiana National Guard leaders on Thursday said a new helicopter hangar will mean better readiness and maintenance for their helicopter fleet.

The National Guard hangar at Shelbyville Municipal Airport is home to half of the Indiana National Guard’s 20 Black Hawk helicopters. When it was built in the early 1970s, the Army was still using the smaller UH-1 Iroquois, better known as the Huey and best known for its service during the Vietnam War. Maj. Gen. Larry Muennich, the Indiana National Guard’s adjutant general and a longtime Black Hawk pilot, said the Guard has been asking for a new hangar ever since it first began flying Black Hawks in 1996.

“Many of the leaders around me were talking abo...