Tucson should push for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to become a Central Operations Base instead of relying on flying missions for its long-term survival, according to a new city-commissioned study.
The study, done by Barry Blechman of the nonpartisan Stimson Center, recommends that Tucson lobby for the A-10 but recognize it has a limited life at D-M. The Air Force has proposed retiring the entire fleet of A-10 Thunderbolt II close air-support jets — a mainstay of operations at D-M — in the next few years to save some $4 billion.
Securing the A-10’s replacement, the F-35, is unlikely and too far off to be a viable plan now, according to the study. Luke Air Force Base outside Phoenix is already named an F-35 training base, and it’s unrealistic to expect a second F-35 unit in Arizona.
Tucson spent $120,000 for the study and a year of consultation with Blechman, who worked with the city to protect D-M in the mid-1990s. The contract expires in October.
“I think our report will serve as a baseline for going forward,” said Mayor Jonathan Rothschild. “This is very much something that is constantly in flux.”
At the same time, Tucson has agreed to go in with Pima County and the private support group DM50 for consulting and lobbying services to represent the region’s interest in protecting and enhancing D-M.
The city has pledged $180,000 over three years, as long as the other two pitch in the same. That request for proposal is open until May, and Blechman is eligible to apply.
The city commissioned the Blechman report in September at the suggestion of its federal lobbyist. Budget cuts have put the A-10 in jeopardy. At risk at D-M are three A-10 squadrons with a combined 83 planes and more than 2,000 personnel.
The Department of Defense has asked Congress to authorize the Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, process. Congress has refused the calls for BRAC thus far, but budget cuts could have a similar effect.
Arizona Sen. John McCain, who became the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in January, has vowed to halt the A-10’s retirement until the Air Force proves it has an adequate replacement.
The A-10’s survival is too tenuous to count on, Blechman writes.
The possibility of an F-35 mission has caused some Tucsonans to object because of noise concerns. The community shouldn’t do anything to discourage the Air Force from locating the F-35 at D-M, but “long-term trends within the Air Force — smaller buys for proportionately more bases — suggest that the community should not rest its primary hopes on winning this basing sweepstakes,” the report states.
Instead, it says the Tucson community should promote a Central Operations Base concept, as a way for the U.S. to project global military power. The Air Force is not yet specifically considering the concept, and it was rejected when it was brought up in 1998. It’s time to bring it back, and from the outside, Blechman writes.
Convincing military leaders to overhaul infrastructure and congressional representatives to support the push would take a considerable campaign, the report states, but the effort would match well with D-M, which already hosts Air Force South and the Twelfth Air Force.
The report is not definitive about what a Central Operations Base would require, but describes it as having a regional focus, which the Twelfth Air Force has, and being command-driven.
“The Central Operations Base concept focuses more on support and enabling capabilities than on combat units, drawing on combat units from across the United States as necessary,” Blechman writes.
The report outlines Air and Space Operations Center, the 563rd Rescue Group, the 55th Electronic Combat Group and the 214th drone squadron, the D-M Boneyard and proximity to the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range as assets that would fold in to the Central Operations Base.
Rothschild said the Central Operations Base idea is encouraging, but added the city isn’t wedded to one approach at this point. Supporting D-M must be a regional effort, he said.
The city’s report flies in the face of a strategy long advanced by local D-M supporters — that the base needs significant flying missions to remain strong and relevant.
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Ron Shoopman, president of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council, said he was aware of the city study but hadn’t yet seen it.
But Shoopman said keeping strong flying missions at D-M remains the top priority for the Southern Arizona Defense Alliance, which counts the Leadership Council among its founding members.
“There’s a lot of views about what we need to do, but (the importance of) a flying mission at D-M is the position of the Southern Arizona Defense Alliance,” Shoopman said.
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Eugene Santarelli, a former D-M commander and a local military consultant, said he believes the stronger strategy is to advocate for flying missions. He said he was aware the city had commissioned the report but hadn’t yet read it.
“It does not build upon the inherent positive attributes of the base, which support flying operations and flying training,” he said, citing the long tradition of year-round training.
Besides the city, D-M supporters are ramping up efforts to protect the base.
The DM50, a business group that has worked to support the base since 1986, and the newer Southern Arizona Defense Alliance recently partnered on a request for proposals for a consultant and Washington lobbyist to advocate for D-M.
The request went out earlier this month to about 25 firms and may be posted for wider distribution through professional consulting organizations, said David Godlewski, chairman of the Southern Arizona Defense Alliance and president of the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association.
“It’s our hope we have a team in place here in the very near future, possibly even this summer,” he said.
The deadline for submitting bids for the consulting and lobbying contract is in mid-May.
Ward 6 City Councilman Steve Kozachik has read the report and wants the community to discuss the Central Operating Base idea.
“It’s in the report — if you’re relying on a single mission out there at D-M, you’re toast, so let’s engage,” he said.
Kozachik’s constituents include those in the flight path and some who have been concerned about noise related to a new mission.
He disagrees with those who say a discussion that includes opponents of one particular mission or another, like the F-35, would hurt Tucson’s chances with the Department of Defense.
“They’re a legitimate part of this conversation,” he said.
City Councilwoman Shirley Scott, whose Ward 4 includes D-M, said she hadn’t yet read the city’s report but that no matter what it says, the bottom line for her doesn’t change:
“These decisions about missions on any Air Force base are totally in the hands of the Air Force and Department of Defense,” she said. “We need to assure them we welcome (any) new mission of this base. We support the mission, whatever that is — what else can we say?”
