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More Planes Sought for Air Base; Politicians Hope to Replace Tankers

Posted on: Thursday, 8 September 2005, 09:00 CDT

WASHINGTON -- The fight for the future of Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station isn't life and death anymore, but that doesn't mean the battle is over.

Now, members of the local congressional delegation will try to replace the eight KC-135 tanker planes that the base's Air National Guard unit is set to lose through the base-closure process.

"I'm hoping in the next few years to get a new Guard mission in there," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., who has influence over the process as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence, noted that the unit already has a new mission: flying the C-130 transport planes that belong to the Air Force Reserve's 914th Airlift Wing. Under a deal with the base-closure commission brokered by Reynolds, those two units will become affiliated, saving all the jobs at the base.

But Reynolds added that the 107th might be able to get C-130 transport planes of its own through congressional appropriations. And Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fairport, also noted the possibility of expanding the resources at the base.

Finding those planes is by no means an urgent matter. The 107th's eight KC-135 tankers are expected to remain at the base for several more years.

Once those planes are transferred to an Air National Guard base in Bangor, Maine -- which the Air Force wants to bolster because of its proximity to Europe -- the 107th will work with the 914th.

The 107th's executive officer, Lt. Col. Barry H. Griffith, said he's not worried that the two units will have too little to do once they end up sharing the same planes. He noted that about half of the 107th's 800 Guardsmen are attached to its Expeditionary Combat Support unit, which performs security, engineering and other service missions and does not fly planes.

With the two units using the same aircraft, each would probably be called up for active duty less often, said John M. Simmons, New York State's base-closure lobbyist. With transport planes in high demand, members of the 914th left last week for the unit's third deployment to Iraq.

"You'd have more people to share the load," Simmons said.

Nevertheless, "more planes would be welcome," Griffith said. And that's why members of Congress plan to try to go out and find them.

Military experts offered mixed views on the likelihood that the local delegation could get more planes for the 107th.

Guard units nationwide that lost planes in the closure process will be fighting for the same aircraft, said Christopher Hellman, a base-closure expert at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation.

But Congress has funded additional C-130s to fill such demands in the past, "and I think they're perfectly capable of doing it again," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense think tank.

Other future possibilities for the base include a repair station for Air Force tankers and as-yet undefined missions involving unmanned aircraft or cyber warfare, Simmons said.

The search for more resources for the 107th is not expected to move forward until next year at the earliest, given that the base- closure process will play out over the rest of this year.

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission must deliver its recommendations to President Bush by Thursday. And while Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has criticized the commission for focusing more on economic impact than military value in its decision process, he is expected to recommend that Bush adopt the recommendations rather than send them back to the commission for revisions.

If Bush accepts the plan, he must forward the plan on to Congress, which can either reject it or adopt it in its entirety. Congress is expected to adopt the plan.

e-mail: jzremski@buffnews.com

Source: Buffalo News

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