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WPAFB likely to avoid cuts from defense plan

Experts say local base’s missions will play key role in leaner military.

An RQ-4B Global Hawk Block 30 prepares to land at Beale Air Force Base in Yuba County, Calif. Officials say Pentagon budget cuts will end the Air Force's long-range surveillance drone known as the Global Hawk, but keep the Navy's version of the unmanned aircraft.

AP Photo/MBR An RQ-4B Global Hawk Block 30 prepares to land at Beale Air Force Base in Yuba County, Calif. Officials say Pentagon budget cuts will end the Air Force's long-range surveillance drone known as the Global Hawk, but keep the Navy's version of the unmanned aircraft.

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By John Nolan and Barrie Barber
Staff Writers Updated 11:32 PM Saturday, February 11, 2012

The Pentagon’s increasing demand for unmanned aircraft bodes well for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as President Barack Obama prepares to make public his funding plans for the smaller, more agile military he envisions for the future.

These are white-knuckle days for any military installation, as Obama prepares to authorize a new round of evaluating which U.S. bases can be closed and which missions might be moved for consolidation into other bases.

But Wright-Patterson and its varied missions are valued by the Air Force’s senior leadership, a good sign going into the era of Washington’s focus on reducing defense spending and cutting budget deficits, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman said.

Still, Portman and other supporters of Wright-Patterson said they are taking nothing for granted as Obama on Monday is to release his fiscal 2013 budget proposal, including the defense spending plan.

His administration has committed to cutting $487 billion from defense spending over the next 10 years. The move likely will set the stage for battles with members of Congress who think the plan will undermine America’s defense.

And the prospect of an additional $500 billion in automatic, across-the-board cuts that could take effect in 2013 still looms, because of last year’s failed effort by Congress’ bipartisan, deficit-reduction committee to identify areas for spending cuts.

Portman and other members of Ohio’s congressional delegation met last week with the Air Force’s senior leadership, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Secretary Michael Donley, as well as Maj. Gen. Deborah Ashenhurst, Ohio’s adjutant general who oversees Ohio’s National Guard and Air National Guard.

Schwartz and Donley appreciate Wright-Patterson’s value, Portman said.

“I think we’re well-positioned to make a strong argument about the value of Wright-Patt,” Portman, a Republican, said after the meeting, which included Ohio legislators from both parties.

In a Jan. 26 preview, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Army and Marine Corps’ manpower will be reduced as the nation focuses on long-range air and sea power to concentrate on the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions. Cyberspace capabilities, special forces and counterterrorism programs will be emphasized.

The administration’s proposal, part of Washington’s effort to reduce budget deficits, comes after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and the planned winding-down of the war in Afghanistan.

Under the administration’s plan, the Air Force’s casualties will include retiring more than 200 older attack and transport aircraft and ending the Block 30 RQ-4 program of Global Hawk, the most common version of that unmanned aircraft, in exchange for the Pentagon’s commitment to fund a new aerial tanker aircraft and development of a new long-range bomber.

The Air Force proposes to keep flying its retooled, decades-old U-2 spy planes to fill the void that would be created by the cost-cutting cancellation of the Block 30 Global Hawk surveillance aircraft.

The Air Force also plans to retire more than 200 older aircraft from the ranks of A-10 attack planes; C-130, C-27J and C-5A cargo planes, and KC-135 refueling tankers. That potentially raises doubt about the futures of Ohio National Guard bases at Mansfield, home to C-27Js, and the Rickenbacker base at Columbus, home to refueling aircraft, Portman said.

“Based on what the Air Force has proposed lately, those are the two that I’d be concerned about,” Portman said.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which gained about 1,200 jobs and new missions through a U.S. base realignment and closure cycle completed in 2005, should escape the 2013 spending cuts largely unscathed, other defense budget watchers said. They cited the base’s value to the Air Force as a hub of procurement, logistics, research and development and intelligence assessment, along with military post-graduation education that includes cyberspace warfare training courses.

Any fluctuations in Wright-Patterson’s work force will likely be minimal, said Loren Thompson, a defense budget analyst with the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.

Based on Panetta’s preview of the new defense priorities, spending should remain steady for intelligence programs and science and technology, said Michael Gessel, a Washington-based vice president for the Dayton Development Coalition, which advocates for Wright-Patterson and its programs. The base is home to the Air Force Research Laboratory and the National Air and Space Intelligence Center.

“We don’t expect to see any steep drops, nor would we expect to see any large ‘ups’ over current spending,” Gessel said.

Panetta’s call to strengthen key alliances and military partnerships could bode well for the Air Force Security Assistance Center, a group based at Wright-Patterson that oversees sales and support of aircraft to NATO countries and U.S. allies, Gessel wrote in an analysis.

But he put the Air Force Institute of Technology on a “watch list” because the military service hasn’t touted education programs as high a priority in the next budget.

The Obama administration is to ask Congress to approve another base realignment and closure (BRAC) cycle to consider closing bases to reduce costs. Congress is unlikely in this election year, however, to vote on authorizing a base-closing evaluation, analysts said.

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