Sion Airport PC-6, Pilatus PC-7, Pilatus PC-9 and Pilatus PC-21 as well as helicopters it uses Sion intensively with the fighter jets F/A-18 and F-5 Tiger. It is the home base of the militia pilot unit Fliegerstaffel 19 Swans with F-5E. Sion Airport is, at both ends of the runway, equipped with retractable arresting gear devices (used by the F/A-18 and in case of a problem by the F-5). Because of the redimension of the Swiss Air Force it is planned that the Air Force will leave Sion after 2017 and Sion will be used by civil aviation only, acting only as
Edward M. Sion Journal for six years. The Lebanese government founded a non-profit in 2007, which would become their national academy of sciences. Sion was invited to be a founding member of the national academy, the Lebanese Academy of Sciences, a clone of the French Academy of Sciences. Sion's studies of white dwarf stars has led to his publishing over 588 scientific articles of which 246 peer reviewed articles have appeared in journals such the Astrophysical Journal, Astronomical Journal, Astronomy and Astrophysics (the European Journal), Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Sion