Mission accomplished
N.D. congressional delegation says Minot AFB to get second squadron of B-52s, 1,090 more personnelBy ELOISE OGDEN, Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com
POSTED: April 9, 2008
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The Air Force announced Tuesday that it plans to keep the nation’s total B-52 force at 76 aircraft instead of cutting the fleet to 56 aircraft as it had originally proposed.
The Air Force will also establish a new B-52 squadron at the Minot base to meet the needs of combat commanders and the requirements of national strategy. The number of combat-ready aircraft at Minot AFB will increase from 12 to 22, according to the congressional delegation. About 1,090 additional personnel will be authorized for the Minot base.
The announcement comes shortly after Air Force Gen. John Corley, the head of Air Combat Command, and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley said the military has a vital need for a B-52 fleet of at least 76 bombers.
The new B-52 squadron will be part of the 5th Bomb Wing, as is the existing 23rd Bomb Squadron at the Minot base. Currently, Minot AFB has 35 B-52s assigned to it, including 17 in attrition reserve and one on loan to NASA.
Most of the planes for the new squadron will be from Barksdale AFB, La., the other base with B-52 bombers. One Minot AFB plane will move to the new squadron.
“This is something we’ve been working on for some time and this is tremendous news,” said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.
$75 million annual economic impact
Conrad said this will increase the total inventory of aircraft that are paid for from 17 to 26. He said the approximately 1,000 additional personnel to the Minot base will have an economic impact of $75 million a year to the Minot area.
Minot AFB’s 2007 economic impact was $371 million.
The economic impact analysis for 2007 also reported the base’s total personnel is 11,159, including 4,533 military members, 5,414 family members and 1,212 civilian employees.
“This is a result of years of effort by the congressional delegation to make the point that the reductions in B-52s were counterproductive and the Air Force now has agreed with that position and standing up this additional squadron at Minot,” Conrad said.
“This is good for the community, good for the state, good for the Air Force and good for the country. This is going to be very important to the continued operations of Minot and is a tremendous vote of confidence by the United States Air Force and the men and women of Minot Air Force Base. I think the people of Minot Air Force Base can be extremely proud and I know people in the Minot community who will be delighted by this news,” Conrad said.
He said this also is good for Barksdale AFB in Louisiana. “In a way it’s good for them too, because it’s more security. Remember the Air Force has been trying to dramatically reduce the number of B-52s that were funded. And to get them to support 76 fully funded is good news for both of us. Obviously, we’re a major beneficiary because we’re going to get the fourth squadron, we’re going to get a substantial increase in personnel,” Conrad said.
“The fourth squadron of B-52 is to allow the nuclear mission to rotate four month intervals between the two B-52 bases,” Conrad said. He said the squadrons will be rotated through the nuclear mission and this will allow them to spend part of their time at Barksdale and part of the time at Minot AFB.
“It’s great news obviously for Minot Air Force Base and I think it certainly justifies the efforts we’ve made to keep the B-52s in the inventory for these years because they’re paid for and they’ve been a great bargain for the taxpayers,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.
Dorgan said one of the catalysts for this was the amendment that he introduced almost two years ago that requires a bomber study before any B-52s would be moved to the boneyard or retired. “That has required them to justify what they’re doing. They could not get the bomber study done without showing a bomber gap, so they’re now wanting to keep the whole complement of B-52s...,” Dorgan said.
“It’s strengthening the base and continues to strengthen the mission of the base, which is very important,” Dorgan added.
Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., said, “There’s two parts of this announcement that are important. First, the decision to place another – to stand up another B-52 squadron at Minot Air Force Base – adds security to the flying mission at the base and substantial personnel to execute the mission.
“The second thing is the long debate between the North Dakota congressional delegation and the Air Force about the role of the B-52 appears to have been resolved with the decision coming down that the B-52 will remain an important part of the force structure and indeed the principal long-range bomber for the U.S. Air Force,” Pomeroy said.
He noted the battles that the North Dakota congressional delegation has had to add the money year after year that the Air Force has tried to cut. “We prevented the mothballing of the very same planes that will now be constituting this new squadron – they’d be gone from the force structure,” he said.
Mark Jantzer, chairman of Task Force 21, Minot’s base retention committee, said, “Certainly this is extremely good news for Minot Air Force Base and Task Force 21.”
“The additional 10 aircraft that will be combat coded and the 26 fully funded is something that we have worked toward for a long time. The fact that there will be 1,000-plus people associated with that is certainly wonderful news. I think this vindicates in some ways years of effort by our task force and by the congressional delegation, and we’re just delighted,” Jantzer said.
As far as housing the new personnel, Jantzer said he expects there will be some time to work through it. “I think that may be some opportunity for some folks. This will be a process that will take place over time. Hopefully, the local housing market will be able to absorb them as needed and as the housing project at the base is completed then more homes will be available out there as well,” Jantzer said.
“That’s going to be a good kind of challenge to have,” Conrad said of housing the additional personnel.
The timeline for the new squadron and its personnel is still being determined.
