BRAC commissioner emphasizes positive
BOISE – A commissioner on the independent panel reviewing military base closure and downsizing recommendations said Friday he “totally concurs” with a Pentagon proposal to move dozens of aircraft and hundreds of jobs away from Idaho’s largest military installation.
But Base Realignment and Closure Commissioner James Hansen, a former Utah Republican congressman, said Mountain Home Air Force Base will still have some of the military’s most modern weapons and is in a good position to host new weapons systems in the future.
“Obviously it’s a very fine base, and obviously it does a great service to the American public, and obviously it is one that is probably going to be there a long time,” Hansen said after spending several hours touring the southwestern Idaho base and adjacent training range in preparation for a June 6 hearing in Salt Lake City. At the hearing, Idaho officials will try to persuade the panel to reconsider the Pentagon’s plan to cut at least 569 jobs and transfer 36 fighter jets from the home of the 366th Fighter Wing east of Boise.
“We would characterize (Friday’s) meeting as beneficial to both the Air Force base and the BRAC commission,” said 366th commander Col. Charles Shugg. “We feel Mountain Home is a tremendous military asset and we will continue to train hard and provide air dominance whenever and wherever needed by our nation.”
Hansen, one of nine commissioners preparing recommendations to President Bush based on the Pentagon’s May 13 plan for base closures or mission changes, said the proposed reduction in work force and aircraft at Mountain Home is “really not an earthshaking thing.”
“There may be a little pain, but I think it’s going to be resolved,” he said. “They are going to be set up quite well to take on new technology.”
In response to questions Hansen asked about Mountain Home’s realignment during a BRAC hearing last week in Washington, D.C., Air Force officials said they want to transfer older F-16 and F-15C jets off the Idaho base so that the flight line is strictly F-15E Strike Eagle jets, rather than a mix of different aircraft.
The Air Force wants to “go to a more homogeneous mix at Mountain Home to take advantage of the great training areas there and the relative lack of encroachment,” said Maj. Gen. Gary Heckman of the Air Force’s plans and programs department. “We think there is room to grow there, and I think it’ll be an excellent candidate for future weapons systems.”
Members of Idaho’s congressional delegation have said they hope Mountain Home will be in the running for hosting a future wing of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, the Air Force’s new multi-role plane that is scheduled for its first test flight in August 2006.