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Grand Forks Air Force Base: BRAC Decides Today

Posted on: Friday, 26 August 2005, 21:00 CDT

Aug. 26--A motion to realign Grand Forks Air Force Base in a friendlier way will be introduced today by a member of the base closure commission, said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

Base Realignment and Closure Commissioner Lloyd Newton is expected to propose an amendment to Pentagon recommendations that could allow Grand Forks Air Force Base to keep some flying tankers until 2011 as opposed to 2009, Conrad said.

Five commissioners must vote in favor for the proposed changes to be approved.

John Marshall, chairman of the base retention committee, said Thursday that he is "absolutely positive" the motion to keep the tankers for six more years will be approved.

The commission will vote on Air Force and National Guard recommendations today in Arlington, Va.

Grand Forks, Fargo and Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., will be discussed starting at 8 a.m. CDT in Arlington, Virginia. Deliberation will be broadcast on C-SPAN2, channel 99 in Grand Forks.

Conrad said the KC135R stratotankers will leave Grand Forks at some point, but they will be replaced with more advanced airplanes.

"We've been realigned, but we've been realigned in a way that's very seductive," Conrad said.

He was talking about the base's evolution from getting off the closure list at the eleventh hour, earlier this year, to becoming one of the core locations for cutting edge Air Force technology.

"I would say this realignment is one in which we're getting the single most sought after mission in the Air Force (unmanned aerial vehicles) and half of them will be based in Grand Forks in the future," Conrad said. "And we're getting the tankers extended until 2011, which puts us in a better position to get the new tankers."

Marshall said late Thursday he was more confident about keeping the tankers until 2011 than he did a couple of days ago.

Pentagon recommendations released May 16 called for retaining four of the base's 40 tankers. The remaining 36 would be distributed other bases around the county by 2009.

It is unknown how many additional tankers will remain on base if the motion passes today.

Conrad said the proposed timing fits better with the timeline for getting a new generation of tankers the Air Force plans to base in Grand Forks by 2011.

"Any extension beyond 2009 is very helpful to us," he said.

The nine-member panel voted to realign Grand Forks and not close it in its July 19 session.

Conrad said that things have improved substantially for Fargo as well.

Gov. John Hoeven agrees. He said he's been talking to commissioners all week. He said he was positive the language in the Pentagon report, which would prevent Fargo's 119th Air National Guard Fighter Wing from getting a new flying mission when the tankers retire in 2007, would be deleted.

He said he talked to Anthony Principi, chairman of the BRAC commission, and three other commissioners and they seem receptive to his request.

"I definitely think they'll give us that flexibility," Hoeven said.

Hoeven also said he's almost certain Fargo would get a new mission. He said he was told he would have to continue working with the Air Force and the National Guard after the BRAC process to define the mission. But BRAC likely will put the 319th Fighter Wing "in a solid position to get new aircraft."

One of the possible missions includes sharing tanker operations with Grand Forks, he said.

"We've talked to them about flying tankers in conjunction with Grand Forks because we're going to have guards going to Grand Forks for the UAV mission," Hoeven said.

The panel will send its final report to President Bush by Sept. 8. The president must accept or reject the final list and send it to Congress, which can accept or reject it in its entirety.

Hoeven said he believes the BRAC recommendations will be approved by congress because to turn it down congress would need two-thirds of the vote in each house as opposed to a majority vote.

"A simple majority vote doesn't do it," Hoeven said.

Ellsworth Air Force Base, which along with Grand Forks is one of the few remaining northern tier bases, could also be spared from the chopping block, Marshall said.

"It's got a very good chance of staying open," he said.

The Pentagon wants to move the base's B-1 bombers to Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.

Marshall said that the commissioners have been making autonomous decisions and

Ellsworth likely will be one those instances in which they exercise independence.

"If you look at the bases they been saving, a lot of the discussion was around the economic impact to those particular communities," Marshall said. "Principi and (Commissioner Samuel) Skinner have said that Ellsworth is the second largest employer in the state of South Dakota."

Ellsworth was originally considered a possible site for UAVs, but Marshall said, if it's spared, the base would not pose a threat to Grand Forks.

"I'll be shocked if Ellsworth affects Grand Forks because each stands independently on its own merit," he said.

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To see more of the Grand Forks Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.grandforks.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

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Source: Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, N.D.)

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