Tucson air base in line for changes
Spending bills reflect shift in main mission
Tucson’s Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is in line for modest new spending plans over the next year as the Pentagon begins shifting its main mission from flying the aging A-10 fighter jet to a center for rescue flights, special operations and jamming enemy transmissions.
Defense spending bills passed last week in the House and Senate Armed Services committees would direct the Pentagon to conduct site reviews, encourage spending on flight simulators based in Tucson, and provide detailed timelines on the various changes planned for Davis-Monthan.
It is part of a multiyear process intended to reboot Davis-Monthan’s long-term purpose by trimming hardware and jobs, then adding new ones more in line with the nation’s defense needs.
The Pentagon is shifting its overall defense priorities away from the kind of desert-based, land warfare that defined the decades after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to emphasize a high-tech, air-based readiness better suited for conflict in the Pacific region.
The spending proposals on Capitol Hill include other provisions affecting Arizona, from pushing the military to document its efforts to safeguard a steady supply of semiconductors to nudging the Pentagon to consider permanently locating a center studying modern warfare at Arizona State University.
Both bills have yet to pass the full House of Representatives and Senate and their differences will have to be reconciled before the $886 billion spending plan can be passed into law.
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., are members of the Armed Services committees and helped shape the plans.
“This defense bill provides the resources and oversight necessary to continue the Air Force’s work to bring new, long-term flying missions to Davis-Monthan, including a new special
Gallego said the bill “supports our troops here at home, stands up to Russia and China and prepares our Armed Forces for potential future conflicts.”
operations wing, ensuring the base will remain central to our national security strategy for years to come,” Kelly said in a written statement.
Gallego said the bill “supports our troops here at home, stands up to Russia and China and prepares our Armed Forces for potential future conflicts.”
The Senate committee proposes spending $8.5 million for a physical and mental health facility for troops and their families, a figure higher than the $5 million sought for planning for a special operations wing at the base.
Special operations are expected to eventually become the leading mission at Davis-Monthan, with rescue flights and communications disruptions playing a smaller role.
The Pentagon’s expected changes to Davis-Monthan will result in about 1,000 job losses as the A-10 is phased out, which the military has sought to do for at least a decade. The base is in the early stages of that drawdown when job losses are expected to be heaviest.
According to the Air Force, DavisMonthan employs about 11,000 airmen and each year contributes about $2.6 billion to the Tucson-area economy. The Air Force’s chief of staff testified in April that, over time, Davis-Monthan would get back as many jobs as it will lose “or maybe just a bit of a bump up in personnel when it’s all said and done.”
The Senate committee plan would push the Air Force to fund training simulators located exclusively at DavisMonthan for the EC-37B “Compass Call” fleet. Kelly helped bring four of the transmission-jamming aircrafts to last year’s budget.
An amendment to the House version from Gallego seeks to include criteria for a permanent location for a center studying irregular warfare that is named for the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and would keep ASU in the running for housing it.
Among its provisions, it requires the secretary of Defense to choose a permanent site at an academic institution that studies irregular warfare and “has a demonstrated network of foreign academic and government partners.”
A 2007 Defense Department report defines irregular warfare as “a violent struggle among state and non-state actors for legitimacy and influence over the relevant populations.”
ASU has a Center on the Future of War, and the Washington-based, nonpartisan McCain Institute is affiliated with ASU.