Wednesday, August 15, 2001
Air Force works on plan to dump 33 bombers
By Tara Copp
Reporter-News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The Air Force is proceeding
with the scrapping of 33 of its 93 B-1 bombers.
Air Force Secretary James Roche told Robins Air Force Base in
Georgia last week that the base’s B-1 wing will be moved
and the 550 personnel linked to it will be retrained, most likely
as aviation information technology specialists.
The Air Force is planning to scrap the planes at Robins, Mountain
Home AFB in Idaho and McConnell AFB in Kansas. Dyess AFB in Abilene
will also lose eight planes.
That would leave 32 planes at Dyess, 26 at Ellsworth AFB in South
Dakota, and two test planes at Edwards AFB in California.
The scrapped planes will go to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration
Center at Davis-Mothan AFB, Ariz., where they will be stripped
for parts. The center is known in military circles as “the
boneyard.”
Roche did not give a timeline for the move, and Congress may still
have a say in whether he gets his way. Several lawmakers from
states with affected bases have hinted they will demand a thorough
review of the B-1 consolidation proposal before considering appropriating
any money for it.
The Pentagon has said scrapping the 33 planes would save $165
million that could be reinvested in upgrades for the remaining
planes.
Roche hasn’t visited Dyess to discuss consolidating the entire
B-1 fleet there, said former Dyess commander Bill Ehrie, now an
advocate for the base.
“I am not hearing anything official right now,” said
Ehrie, president of the Abilene Industrial Foundation. “I
think it’s still being discussed, what exactly the impact
will be” at Dyess.
When only Ellsworth and Dyess remain as B-1 bases, their missions
will determine which base maintains a higher profile, he said.
With the development of a nearby bombing training range, Dyess
should be competitive to house both combat and training missions,
Ehrie said.
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©2001, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps.
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