BRAC NEWS

BRAC outcome clearer ... sort of
By Jeff Lemaster
Editor

The office of U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., was notified Tuesday about the ultimate effect of the latest round of the Base Realignment And Closure commission on Little Rock Air Force Base. According to a document from an Air Force/BRAC liaison, the base will receive five additional active duty C-130s and one additional C-130 for the 189th Airlift Wing of the Air National Guard. That would bring the base’s total fleet of C-130s up to 80 aircraft. Drew Goesl, a spokesman for Lincoln, said that beyond that basic information, a lot is still unkown. “There are still questions about things like personnel and what models the planes will be,” Goesl said. The document reads as if six is the final number of additional aircraft the base will gain from this round of BRAC. Since the commission approved its proposal more than a month ago, there has been a stark lack of clarity about how the proposal would affect LRAFB. Goesl said that while the document makes things a little clearer, there could still be room for the base to gain more. “I wish I could answer that question,” he said. “We think that is probably going to be the final outcome for Jacksonville, but we’re not 100 percent sure.” Under a proposal the Department of Defense presented to BRAC in May, the base stood to gain more than 50 aircraft and nearly 4,000 personnel. But after the commission made numerous deviations from the DoD’s proposal, the domino effect left the base gaining less than a dozen additional aircraft.
Widespread speculation ensued after the commission submitted its proposal to President George W. Bush in early September as to how the base would be affected. There were reports that the base would gain nine additional aircraft, but that they would all fall under the command of the Air National Guard. There were other reports that the base would gain 18 aircraft.
BRAC spokesmen reported that the commission had no ultimate control over where aircraft were relocated, and that such decisions rested in the hands of the Air Force. The Air Force had not released an official statement until late Monday.