New Squadron?

[scottr5213]

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE With Minot Air Force Base as the preferred site for a second squadron of B-52 bombers, a team will visit the base early next month to help plan for the new unit.

"The bottom line is a lot of the planning is still to be determined, said Lt. Col. Monte Harner, commander of the base's 5th Civil Engineer Squadron.

Harner spoke Thursday at the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce's Military Affairs Committee's meeting in Minot.

Harner said SATAF the Site Activation Task Force is a team that comes in and helps the base with planning for the new squadron.

He said the team "determines our facility requirements and helps lay out the renovations and new buildings that are needed to support this new mission that's coming in."

Harner said another team earlier visited the base as part of the determination to select which base was going to receive the new B-52 squadron.

Early last year, officials announced that a second squadron of B-52s was planned for the Minot base. In November, the Pentagon officially announced that Minot was the preferred location for the new squadron. Pending a favorable environmental impact analysis, a final decision then will be announced.

The new B-52 squadron is projected to bring upward of around 1,000 more military members plus family members to the base.

Harner said plans for the new squadron include some renovation work in the Pride Building, a large building on base where the existing 23rd Bomb Squadron is located. The new squadron, called the 69th Bomb Squadron will also be located there, he said.

"Right now we're projecting to get two additional docks two new hangars...," he said.

He said the plan also includes renovation of the existing aircraft maintenance unit as well as a new building to house an additional aircraft maintenance unit. There will also be several more munitions storage facilities.

Because of the increased population "which is just under 500 currently being projected," he said an estimate of 120 new homes and 72 more dormitory spaces are needed.

The base has a plan for several new dorms which calls for 144-room dorms but Harner said that has been expanded to 168 rooms to plan for the new squadron.

The additional homes will still be to be determined, he said.

Pending a favorable environmental impact analysis, the B-52 squadron would stand up at Minot AFB by late this year, early 2010 timeframe, according to Air Force officials.

Other visitors

Representatives of the Nuclear Warfare Center also are expected to visit the base to look over its infrastructure.

Last fall Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., made the case to Air Force Secretary Michael Donley for Minot to be the headquarters for a munitions group that would help oversee the operation of Air Force weapons storage areas nationwide.

The location of the munitions group has not been announced yet, said Col. Steven Basham, vice commander of the base's 5th Bomb Wing. The center representatives' visit is expected to be part of that process.

North Dakota's congressional delegation has been urging the Air Force to establish the new nuclear command, Global Strike Command, at the Minot base. Both the 5th Bomb Wing and the 91st Missile Wing will be in the new command.

The congressional delegation said Minot AFB is the perfect location for the new nuclear command because it is the only base with two nuclear wings intercontinental ballistic missiles and B-52 bombers.

[MIKE JG]

So are they pulling BUFFs from Barksdale to form this new SQ?

[GZR_Sactargets]

Mike, I think the 'change' will be the removal of some from the conventional mission to the dedicated nuke mission. I haven't seen anything about any relocation of airframes.

[MIKE JG]

Ahh the ole pencil whip. Gotcha.

[GZR_Sactargets]

From AF Daily Report 4 Feb 09

Adieu, Old Friend: A B-52H bomber from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB, N.D., left the base for good on Jan. 21, on a flight to Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., where it will be placed in recallable storage by the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group. This aircraft, with tail number 61-0027, is the latest of 18 H-model B-52s that Air Combat Command is retiring to reduce the B-52 fleet size to 76. The Air Force began pulling these B-52s from service last July. (Minot photo caption by SSgt. Keith Ballard)

[GZR_Sactargets]

From AF Daily Report 5 Feb 09

Down to 76: The Air Force last month completed the drawdown of the B-52H fleet to 76 aircraft, according to Air Combat Command. When this phaseout was conceived early last year, ACC planned to retire 18 H-model B-52s in the then-94 aircraft fleet. But with the subsequent crash of a B-52 last July off the coast of Guam, one of the airframes originally identified for retirement has been kept in service, ACC spokeswoman Elaine Belcher told the Daily Report yesterday. This means a total of 17 B-52s have been taken out of service and placed in recallable storage at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. Of these 17 airframes, nine came from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB, N.D., six from the 2nd BW at Barksdale AFB, La., and two from Shepherd AFB, Tex., Belcher said. The one B-52 from Barksdale's 93rd Bomb Squadron, an Air Force Reserve Command unit, that was slated for retirement, was held back to replace the 2nd BW asset lost in the Guam crash, she said.