I would say that those items authorized and not yet in inventory are items we had programed for the training command mission in Scott that are no longer required in support of the MATS mission. Mr. PRICE. Will you give me a complete report on that? General RENTZ. I certainly will; yes, sir. (The information requested is as follows:) Projects making up the total of $15,328,000 indicated as being "authorization not yet in inventory" are projects which are completed but not reflected in the real property inventory of the base; projects which are funded and may be under construction, advertisement, or in the process of advertising; and projects previously authorized and proposed for funding in the fiscal year 1959 military construction program. The major items comprising this list for Scott Air Force Base are: The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, we reduce the item for Dover Air Base to $2,871,000. Now the next is the Strategic Air Command. General DREYER. $153,156,000 for the Strategic Air Command. The CHAIRMAN. All right. Now tell the committee briefly the military objective of the Strategic Air Command. Colonel JACKSON. The eighth Zone of Interior major command to be reviewed is the Strategic Air Command. The mission of this command is to organize, train, equip, administer, and prepare a force capable of conducting strategic air operations in accordance with directives and policies issued by Headquarters, United States Air Force. This program contains a request for $153,156,000 for the Strategic Air Command and provides facilities at 39 locations. Included in the Strategic Air Command program is an amount of $65,406,000 to provide alert capability at 15 heavy bomber bases and 15 medium bomber bases. An amount of $23,661,000 is requested to provide additional facilities required at 10 heavy bomber home bases. Of this amount, approximately $4,300,000 is requested for facilities necessary to convert Beale Air Force Base to heavy bomber home base and approximately $8 million is included for airfield pavement strengthening and replacement. An amount of $4,888,000 is requested to provide additional facilities necessary at six heavy bomber dispersal bases included in prior programs. An amount of $13,152,000 is contained in this program to provide for construction of the second increment of facilities at Richard Bong Air Force Base. An amount of $148,000 will provide facilities to support SAGE. An amount of $3,809,000 is requested to accommodate redeployment of Air Defense fighter missions at three bases. In addition, $2,642,000 is included to provide required facilities for air defense missions at seven Strategic Air Command bases. The remainder of the Strategic Air Command program, amounting to $39,461,000, will provide for items required to support the basic mission throughout the entire command. In addition to the program specified in the foregoing paragraphs, facilities to support the Strategic Air Command are included within other major Zone of Interior commands, as follows: Air Defense Command.. Air Materiel Command___ Air Research and Development Command_ Air Training Command.. Continental Air Command_. Military Air Transport Service.... Tactical Air Command____ This authorization requested within other commands total of $69,736,000. The CHAIRMAN. This involves the dispersal fields. taken care of in here. $30, 881, 000 8,788, 000 3, 116, 000 4,843, 000 11, 763, 000 4, 668, 000 5, 677, 000 amounts to a They are all General DREYER. The home bases, dispersal bases, and the alert facilities for SAC, yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. All right. General DREYER. And tanker relocation. The CHAIRMAN. I think the facts warrant the reduction of a small amount on the first item, from $4,132,000 to $4,051,000. Colonel JACKSON. That is correct, Mr. Chairman." The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, that is agreed to. Colonel JACKSON. That is Altus Air Force Base, on page 95. Colonel JACKSON. The first Strategic Air Command base to be considered is Altus Air Force Base. It is located approximately 2 miles east-northeast of Altus, Okla. Its planned use is for a Strategic Air Command heavy bomb mission and an Air Defense Command fighter unit. It will also be used as a Strategic Air Command Air Division Headquarters. The program requested for Altus Air Force Base amounts to $4,051,000. It includes the following items: The first item is an operational alert apron which will provide parking for alert aircraft. The next item is a rapcon center which will provide air traffic control under all weather conditions. The next item will provide lighting for an existing taxiway. The taxiway connects the heavy bomber apron to the runway end. The next item is a ready crew building to accommodate Strategic Air Command crews on alert duty. The next item will provide an ammunition storage magazine for the Strategic Air Command. The next item will provide utilities for support of the new Strategic Air Command alert area. The last item will provide land to maintain necessary safety clearance around alert aircraft. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Brooks is recognized now. He has some amendment in regard to Barksdale. Colonel Jackson, first. Colonel JACKSON. The next location is Barksdale Air Force Base. It is situated 1 mile west of Bossier City, La. The planned use of this base is for a Strategic Air Command Air Force Headquarters, a Stra tegic Air Command heavy bomber mission, and Air Division Headquarters, an Air Force Reserve activity, and other missions. The program requested for Barksdale totals $3,355,000. It includes the following items: The first item will provide for the strengthening of a runway access taxiway. This taxiway has begun to fail under channelized traffic of B-47's. This failure will be rapidly accelerated under expected B-52 traffic, hence it is urgent that this strengthening be accomplished at the earliest possible date. The next item will provide a parking apron for alert aircraft. The next item will provide a facility to house the Strategic Air Command crews on alert duty. The last item will provide utility support for the new alert area. This bill also amends Public Law 85-241 to provide an additional $289,000 in authorization to correct increased costs on projects approved by that law. Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask first about the matter what about the housing situation down there at Barksdale? General, are you familiar with that? General RENTZ. I certainly am, Mr. Brooks. I made a trip not over 30 days ago down to Barksdale and reviewed their requirements down there. At a base such as Barksdale, a permanent B-52 base, we would like to get just as good facilities as possible for the men. As you know, we have had quite a turnover of SAC personnel, as General LeMay has mentioned many times. We consider adequate barracks as one of the primary necessities for the airmen living. Due to the tightness of this program-and when I say "tightness" I mean that this amount was arrived at after looking at $2 billion worth of firm requirements for the Air Force-it was necessary to defer some of the barracks at Barksdale to stay within the limits of the program. At the present time Barksdale lacks 461 spaces of permanent barracks to complete their requirement as authorized by the Secretary of Defense Office, which is 75 percent of the total housing requirements. It lacks 461 spaces. If the program had not been as tight as it was and is, we would have included the additional barracks for Barksdale in there. Mr. BROOKS. Let me ask you this: You have some troop housing down there that was built in 1941. It is temporary housing; isn' that correct? General RENTZ. That is correct. Mr. BROOKS. Now, is that the housing you refer to as inadequate? General RENTZ. Yes, sir; I am referring to that type housing, the mobilization-type structures that are substandard, sir. Mr. BROOKS. It was 5-year type construction in 1941? General RENTZ. It was built for 5 years' life; yes, sir. Mr. BROOKS. Its maintenance is extremely high, isn't it? General RENTZ. Yes, sir. We spent more on the maintenance of substandard facilities, naturally, than on the permanent type. I stated in my opening statement, we have made little progress in replacement of these substandard facilities because of the other operational requirements of this program. As Mr. BROOKS. Now, of course, I have had occasion to see some of that. I was told that no troops would be assigned to that housing once it is vacated because it is in such dilapidated shape. Would you say that is too strong? General RENTZ. Well, I know that General McConnell, who is in charge of the Air Force, located at Barksdale, feels very strongly about taking care of his airmen in an adequate manner, and if he can perform the mission at Barksdale without utilizing this housing, that is what he is going to do. Mr. BROOKS. Was a request made of the Air Force for additional housing there? General RENTZ. I would say that that request was contained in the $2 billion I mentioned; yes, sir. Mr. BROOKS. And how much was requested? General RENTZ. Well, it was requested up to limitations, for 400 additional spaces, Mr. Brooks. Mr. BROOKS. What is 400 spaces? How much is that? Mr. BROOKS. What is the cost on two 200-man dormitories? General RENTZ. The cost of the spaces for 400 men would be approximately $925,000. Mr. BROOKS. Now, that request was made up to you and you included it in your $2 billion. Now, when you cut down-do you make the request now? General RENTZ. Sir? Mr. BROOKS. If this were presented to you now, would you make the request? Do you feel that that is important enough to make the request, for 400 units, two 200-men units? General RENTZ. Of course, I would have to have air staff concurrence to make a request such as that. I think the 400 additional spaces at Barksdale is a firm requirement, and if we don't put it in this year, we will probably put it in next year, sir. Mr. BROOKS. Of course, you have lost a year in the meantime. The CHAIRMAN. In the meantime there is only $925,000 involved in it. When we get to acting on the amendments, I hope Mr. Brooks will suggest to increase it $925,000. General RENTZ. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. So we will bear that in mind. Mr. BROOKS. That is later on, in reference to units. The CHAIRMAN. That is right. Mr. KELLEHER. No, sir. This would be the appropriate place for the amendment, at this point. The CHAIRMAN. I wouldn't put it in here. But we will act on it later on, when we come back. Mr. KELLEHER. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. All right. Now, members of the committee, Mr. Kelleher and I have examined all these Strategic Air Commands. You know that is the backbone of our deterrent forces. We find that in 2 or 3 places we can bring about a reduction without hurting the service. Now, the first one would be Beale Air Force Base, where we would reduce that to $786,000. 20066-58 No. 86- 33 Colonel JACKSON. The next location is Beale Air Force Base situated 9 miles east of Marysville, Calif. The planned use of this base is for a SAC heavy bomb mission, an air defense sector headquarters, and other missions. The program requested for Beale totals $9,068,000. It includes the following items. The first item will provide taxiway access to the seven maintenance docks in this program. The next item will permit the construction of a ready alert crew facility to house Strategic Air Command crews on a 24-hour alert. The next item is an operation mission training building which houses a radar training function, flight simulators, gunnery trainer, code rooms, and classrooms. The next item is an aircraft organizational maintenance shop. This facility will involve the relocation of an existing building to the flight line to provide space for equipment for crews performing organizational maintenance on assigned aircraft. The next item is an aircraft field maintenance shop. The requirement for this facility is 56,000 square feet. There is presently under construction 27,000 square feet. The facility requested here will fill the aircraft maintenance shop deficiency. The next item is an aircraft engine inspection and repair shop. Nothing exists at Beale for this activity and the requested facility will fill the requirement. The next item is an aircraft periodic maintenance shop. This item involves the relocation of an existing 2,500 square feet building to the vicinity of the flight line so that it can be used for period maintenance on assigned aircraft. The next item will provide four maintenance dockets for maintenance of assigned aircraft. The next item is a jet engine test stand. This will provide 1 jet engine test stand capable of testing engines up to 20,000 pounds thrust. The next item is a ground powered equipment shop. This item will provide for the relocation of 5,729 square feet of an existing building in the vicinity of the flight line. It will be used for the maintenance of approximately 227 pieces of ground powered equipment. The next item is a warehouse. The requirement for warehousing at Beale is 140,000 square feet. Although 185 square feet exists at Beale, all but 3,000 square feet consists of old substandard World War II mobilization-type building with light floor loading capability. The warehousing contained in this request will provide an increment toward satisfying the warehouse requirement at Beale. The next item is a 50-bed hospital. Although this item appears as a replacement the hospital which previously existed at Beale has been dismantled and removed to make way for the current runway and taxiway construction. Therefore, without this requested facility no medical capability will exist at Beale. The next item is a wing headquarters. This item will involve the modification of an existing building for the administrative functions of the Strategic Air Command's unit assigned to Beale. The next item is an officers' open mess. Nothing exists at Beale which will satisfy this requirement. The closest city of considerable size is Sacramento, which is 50 miles distant. Accordingly, it is con |