Weather, location make D-M an Air Force gem

Southern Arizona’s sunny weather and proximity to some of the nation’s best training ranges should help Davis-Monthan Air Force Base survive budget cuts and potential base closings.

“We have the best weather, airspace and ranges of any base in the country,” says Brian Harpel, president of the DM50, a business support group.

Should the Air Force conduct another Base Realignment and Closure process, also known as BRAC, “D-M could gain some additional flying missions if we position ourselves correctly,” Harpel predicts.

Congress has so far rejected the Pentagon’s request for a new BRAC round, which could happen in 2017. With the Air Force saying it has 30 percent more base capacity than it needs, D-M could be in line for change despite its status as one of the service’s largest bases.

“Whatever happens, I would think D-M would be at the top of the list of bases to retain,” says retired Air Force Major Gen. Donald Shepperd, a former commander of the Air National Guard base at Tucson International Airport, who has consulted on basing issues. “It’s got amazing facilities, and is surrounded by all the things you need to support a base.”

RANGE Space, AIRSPACE

D-M’s base commander, Col. James Meger, would not talk about budget issues, the proposed retirement of the A-10 or future Air Force basing plans, deferring to the Pentagon.

But Meger, who trained at D-M as a young pilot, doesn’t hesitate to extol its virtues as one of the nation’s top year-round training bases.

“It’s all about location, location, location. If you look out now, it’s a perfect day in Tucson — perfect flying weather,” Meger said on a sunny April morning. “You also look at, based on location, not just the weather but the availability for airspace and range space as well.”

Davis-Monthan has close access to the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range, the nation’s third-largest tactical aviation range and by far the largest of a dozen primary Air Force training ranges, stretching some 1.7 million acres from Tucson to Yuma and down along the Mexican border — out of the way of normal commercial airline routes.

The Goldwater complex includes the massive Sells range and airspace that stretches across much of Southern Arizona, as well as the Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field and several smaller military operations areas.

The eastern part of the Goldwater range is managed by a unit at Luke Air Force Base, while the western portion is managed by Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.

The Goldwater’s eastern area is a focus of air-to-ground attack training, featuring four manned ranges, three simulated air-to-ground target areas and explosive ordnance disposal facilities. Spotters in observation towers score training attacks for accuracy.

While the Air Force and Marine Corps are the main users, the Goldwater Range also hosts units from the Air Guard, the Air Force Reserve, the Navy and air crews of allied nations. The range is frequently used for multi-unit and multi-service exercises.

Meger says the Goldwater Range is one of four in the region — along with Nellis Air Force Range-Nevada Test Range, the Air Force Utah Test and Training Range and the Army’s White Sands Missile Range — that make D-M an ideal location for training, particularly for ground-attack missions.

“We can really operate aircraft like we do in a combat environment,” he says.

Goldwater has some advantages over the larger Nellis and Utah ranges, including less competition for range time and Goldwater’s massive Sells airspace.

“There isn’t a conflict with where the civilian airline traffic would really like to fly, so our range and range airspace doesn’t get in the way,” Meger says.

Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Ron Shoopman, former commander of the Air National Guard 162nd Fighter Wing, says the Sells airspace offers pilots and commanders the chance to hold large, integrated exercises like nowhere else.

“You can run a simulated war out there, with airplanes over 100 miles apart to start the simulated engagement and supersonic airspace all the way, so you can actually fight as we would really fight,” says Shoopman, president of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council and a member of the DM50.

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And while several air bases are within an hour or so of the Goldwater ranges by jet, being able to fly from D-M in minutes means more time in actual training.

“If I can maximize my time on the range by operating out of a base that’s close to the range, that just makes economic sense,” says retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Eugene Santarelli, a former D-M commander and a local military consultant. “I think that’s the way the Air Force looks at it, too.”

Long runway

As a major training base for decades, D-M has the right stuff to churn out qualified air crews.

It boasts one of the longer runways in the Air Force, at 13,642 feet — plenty long to land large planes like the C-5 Galaxy transport, which is used to transport large equipment such as combat-rescue helicopters.

It has a live-ordnance loading area and munitions storage facilities — key not only to units based at D-M, but to visiting training units including the Air National Guard’s 162nd Fighter Wing, which can’t load live munitions at its base at Tucson International Airport.

D-M also boasts one of the Defense Department’s largest renewable-energy installations, a 14.5-megawatt solar photovoltaic project expected to provide about 35 percent of the base’s electricity and save an estimated $500,000 annually.

Recent additions include a $55 million command center for the 612th Air Operations Center, which opened in 2007; and a $78 million simulator and classroom complex for training on EC-130H Compass Call electronic-combat planes, completed in 2014.

D-M also has been recognized as a top-performing base, winning the 2012 Commander-in-Chief’s Annual Award for Installation Excellence and a $1 million prize that was used partly to improve D-M’s South Wilmot Road gate.

Where aircraft retire

If a mission or unit can count as an asset, the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group should qualify.

“The Boneyard” operates the Air Force’s main storage, maintenance and parts facility on 2,600 acres, managing an inventory of more than 4,200 aircraft and 40 aerospace vehicles originally worth more than $35 billion.

Experts say the AMARG will stay put for the foreseeable future, and it may grow as the Air Force retires more older aircraft. The Air Force would not likely move the Boneyard, which employs about 600 people. Even if the rest of D-M were shut, experts say the Air Force would have to keep the runway open to keep the Boneyard in operation. That would hinder efforts to redevelop the base for civilian uses.

TUCSON

While Tucson counts D-M as an important asset, Tucson is an asset for D-M and its airmen.

As a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million people, Tucson offers an array of off-base housing, employment opportunities for military spouses and plenty to do.

Airmen like it here.

“There’s tremendous opportunity for them here, where they’d like to live, where they’d like their kids to go to school,” Meger says. “They can go down and catch a Division I (UA) football or basketball game, they can go to some incredible art and cultural opportunities.”

Davis-Monthan ranked 25th in the Air Force Times’ 2014 list of the Best Bases for Airmen, which compared 68 bases. Recreation and low-cost housing were key considerations.