Monday, January 05, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

MILITARY REALIGNMENT: Nellis base likely to survive

Pentagon seeks to reduce infrastructure by as much as 25 percent

Army National Guard Cpl. Rod Faircloth checks identification on New Year's Eve at the entrance to Nellis Air Force Base. Photo by John Gurzinski. Air Force Sgt. Chris Hoskins and his partner Marco with the 99th Security Forces Squadron check identification at the entrance to Nellis Air Force Base on New Year's Eve. Photo by John Gurzinski.

WASHINGTON -- Nellis Air Force Base appears to be in a strong position as the Pentagon readies for a new round of base closings, but Las Vegas sprawl could cause problems, experts say.

Because urban growth is closing in on the base, eight miles northeast of Las Vegas, Nellis might come under closer scrutiny by Pentagon leaders seeking to reduce the military's infrastructure capacity by as much as 25 percent nationwide.

"Every base will get looked at. Most people in the know in Las Vegas make the assumption that because of our mission, we'll not get closed," Nellis spokesman Mike Estrada said. "That's not true. There's nothing in the regulation that says a base will not be closed."

Barry Steinberg, an attorney who represents communities facing base closings, said encroachment is a problem for Nellis.

"Can you train at this base like you want to? The more accommodations you have to make in the training mission, the weaker it is," said Steinberg, a retired Army colonel.

Nevada leaders say Nellis is sufficiently buffered from growth and predict it will survive intact.

Nellis, with other Nevada military installations, is "in absolutely good shape," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

By some estimates, the Defense Department could propose that 100 bases be shut down or realigned in the fifth round of reorganizations dating back to 1988. The proposals would be studied by an independent base closing commission, whose subsequent recommendations would need to be signed off by Congress.

In December, the Defense Department announced the criteria that will be used to weigh military installations for base closings and realignments.

By most of the measures, military analysts and Nevada leaders said the state's installations are well-positioned to avoid closure. In addition to Nellis, the Air Force operates an auxiliary base at Indian Springs, the Navy operates the Fallon Naval Air Station and the Army has a depot at Hawthorne.

Among recent developments that cause optimism are projections that the Predator spy program at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field will expand and the Army has been pumping new technology into the Hawthorne Army Depot, said a Reid aide.

But the fact that Nellis sits in the path of sprawl raises some concern among analysts. They question whether the Air Force can afford to operate under training constraints crafted to accommodate neighborhoods that have cropped up along the base's southern border.

"You want a base that is well-configured to perform its current mission, doesn't have to adjust for encroachment and performs efficiently," Steinberg said.

Sprawl has affected operations at the Las Vegas base. Since the mid-1980s, Nellis pilots carrying live ordnance have been restricted to takeoffs on the north runway, avoiding homes along the preferred southerly path.

High winds sometimes cause problems for pilots flying north. On average, 100 flights are canceled each year, a small fraction of the 55,000 missions, Estrada said.

Aborted flights are a concern for base managers who host pilots for only limited training periods, Estrada said. He said rescheduling a canceled mission "is a nightmare in juggling aircraft availability and the class schedules."

"Many of our testing activities are time critical. An overseas combatant commander needs the new software or the new version of a weapon now, not next week," Estrada said.

Pentagon leaders will likely look at population growth when weighing two of the eight criteria that will decide which bases to retain, said Loren Thompson, chief operating officer at the Lexington Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank that studies national security.

"Encroachment is a significant factor when it comes to availability and future potential," Thompson said.

In recent years, Nevada's federal lawmakers have earmarked $30 million to buy buffer land around the 14,000-acre base. Also, Clark County has agreed to allow only limited development to the north of Nellis to preserve the northern runway, Estrada said.

Despite growing population concerns, military observers said Nellis still is well positioned when compared to other installations. It is home to the Air Force's Red Flag combat training squad, air warfare center, weapons school, ground operations school, threat training facility and the world-renowned Thunder- birds.

Its pilots can access the military's largest test and training area, about 5,000 square miles of Nevada mountain and desert range and another 7,700 square miles of restricted airspace.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said he believes Nellis has room to grow. He dismissed suggestions that some of its missions could be transferred to other bases.

"At Nellis we can create an environment that is much like the kind of war you'll find in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Gibbons, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee. "If you have to split it up you'll not get the all-in-one realistic training scenario. This is why Nellis is a national treasure."

"There's nowhere else in America they could go," Reid said.

And while Nellis may have encroachment worries, it is not alone.

In an April report, the General Accounting Office criticized the Air Force for failing to properly measure the impact of encroachment on military operations.

Besides Nellis, investigators found problems at the Barry Goldwater Range in Arizona, Fort Benning in Georgia, Fort Lewis in Washington and Elgin Air Force Base in Florida.

"Realistically, where are they going to go where they'd have less of an encroachment issue?" Thompson said of Nellis Air Force Base. "Nevada is a much more suitable location for having large-scale test and training than the average state because there's so much open space."

But Steinberg said the weakest bases were closed during the first four rounds, and scrutiny might be tougher in the upcoming effort. Ninety-seven major bases were shuttered and hundreds of smaller facilities lost or gained missions in base closing rounds that took place in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995.

Tom Donnelly, a national security and defense scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said military bases also will be considered critical if they support ongoing military operations, provide long-term training, test emerging weapon systems and can support several service branches.

"If you want joint warfighting between the Air Force and the Army in a land battle operation, you're going to want to promote a training facility where you can do that," Donnelly said.

Although Nellis' economic impact to Las Vegas has shrunk in relation to the dozens of casinos that line the Strip, Joe Brown, vice commander of the Nellis Support Team, a community booster group, said the base remains an important economic asset to Southern Nevada.

The base's $392 million annual payroll supports 7,941 military personnel and 2,854 civilians, Estrada said.

Brown said Las Vegas leaders are poised to go to bat for Nellis if its future is thrown in doubt.

"We will do everything we possibly can to make sure that the message gets out to the members of the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) commission that Nellis is an essential asset to national security," Brown said.

The Pentagon's base closing criteria will measure a base's value by looking at its current and future mission capabilities and its impact on operational readiness; the availability and condition of land, facilities and airspace; the ability to accommodate contingency, mobilization and future forces; and the cost to operate the installation.

Other considerations include the potential costs and savings of realigning or closing a base, the economic impact on a community, the ability of a community to support base missions and personnel, and the costs of environmental restoration.