Senator STENNIS. All right. Anything additional you want to say about any of these? Colonel PARKHILL. No, sir. Senator STENNIS. Is this an overplus that you are having to put in here all because of your heavy bombardment squadrons? Colonel PARKHILL. Yes, sir. General CURTIN. Finalizing the facilities for the dispersal program for the Armed Forces, Mr. Chairman. Senator STENNIS. And this will put you in business there? General CURTIN. I hope so, sir. Senator STENNIS. You think it is all you need? General CURTIN. It is all we can foresee to take care of the operational requirements at the present time, sir. Senator STENNIS. Is all right. Is there any objection now to taking a recess until tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock? Will that suit you all right to be back then? General CURTIN. We will be glad to, sir. Senator STENNIS. All right. Thank you very much, gentlemen. We will meet at 10. (Whereupon, at 6 p.m., the committee recessed until 10 a.m., April 14, 1960.) MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AUTHORIZATIONS, FISCAL YEAR 1961 THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1960 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, OF THE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 10:10 a.m. in room 212, Senate Office Building. Present: Senators Stennis (presiding) and Case. Also present: Gordon A. Nease of the committee staff. Senator STENNIS. Gentlemen, I hope that you are all well this morning. We have a good day ahead of us and we will run until about 12:30 or 1 o'clock, if that is agreeable to everyone concerned. TACTICAL AIR COMMAND Colonel PARKHILL. Mr. Chairman, our next command is the Tactical Air Command, page 257. The mission of the Tactical Air Command is to organize, equip, train, and administer the forces assigned or attached, to participate in tactical air operations, including light and tactical bombardment, day fighter, tactical fighter, tactical missiles, troop carrier, reconnaissance and support units; maintenance of liaison with Continental Army Command and determination of the amount of Tactical Air Command resources to allocate for the training of Air Force and Army personnel and units in air-ground operations; and maintenance of a capability and development of plans for the deployment of mobile atomic strike forces for use in tactical air operations in any area of the world independent of or in concert with other land, air, naval, and/or amphibious forces. This program contains a request for $7,772,000 for Tactical Air Command and provides facilities at seven locations. Included within the Tactical Air Command total program are facilities for operational and base support items totaling $5,529,000, Air Defense Command missions at two bases, totaling $913,000, and a Strategic Air Command mission at one base costing $1,330,000. First, we have an added item for Cannon Air Force Base and this is described in the yellow book on page 8. Senator STENNIS. Page 8? Colonel PARKHILL. Yes, sir. The items is to reconstruct the 8,000 feet of runway, $1,021,000. Recently, we have found that the runis failing severely and we must replace the 8,000 feet of that main way runway. Senator STENNIS. When was that runway put it? Colonel PARKHILL. 1951. Senator STENNIS. Of course, they have the jetplanes now. Colonel PARKHILL. Yes, sir; they have 144 F-100 fighters on this base. Senator STENNIS. Has the asphalted pavement given away? Do you still use the asphalted pavement? Mr. FERRY. I have actually seen this runway. It is getting a burden here from these planes as they take off at rather sharp angles and the tail pipe is down very close to the asphalt runway. Actually, we are burning it and softening it up with the heat and throwing it away. What we plan to do is put a concrete keel down the center of this runway so that where most of the traffic is concentrated, the jet effect will not be harmful to the runway. Senator STENNIS. A question comes to my mind and one that I have heard most of my adult life is that asphalted pavement wouldn't hold up as well as concrete. Now I don't know where the merits are and I hear it argued in highway departments and everywhere else. My question is, Are you continuing to put in asphalt pavement that you have to replace like this? Mr. FERRY. No, only the sides and the shoulders. At the center portion, which gets the hard usage, we are going into concrete. Senator STENNIS. Is that a firm policy? Mr. FERRY. That is the firm policy, sir. Senator STENNIS. Well, I don't know anything about it. I have heard it all my life, as I say, that there is a contest between the asphalting people and the concreting people. It seems to me like somebody should decide now which is the best and replace these areas. General CURTIN. We have decided on the airfield that certain areas that are sensitive to the problems that are typical here at Cannon would be in portland cement concrete and at other areas asphalt. Mr. FERRY. The asphalt is cheaper so you can utilize it in the parts that get less wear or abuse. Senator CASE. Mr. Chairman, in the changing concept of defense and defense requirements are we justified in regarding a fighter base in this area as having a long-range need? Colonel PARKHILL. Yes, sir; this is a tactical fighter base. It will not be involved in the air defense changes. General CURTIN. I think that was the basis of your question, the tactical fighters as opposed to the interceptors. Senator CASE. Yes; is this sort of a home base for them? General CURTIN. Yes, sir. Senator CASE. Would you take them out of there for operation in a limited war? General CURTIN. They may well move overseas in task forces or in full force in case of an emergency such as Lebanon or Formosa. Mr. FERRY. Actually, they rotate from this base now over to the Near East and Far East. Colonel PARKHILL. They do; yes. ENGLAND AIR FORCE BASE, ALEXANDRIA, LA. Colonel PARKHILL. Our next base is England Air Force Base, La., page 258 in the regular book. Senator STENNIS. All right. Colonel PARKHILL. This is a tactical fighter base and we have six items totaling $1,176,000. The runway overrun project will provide a standard overrun on one end of the runway. The second item modifies the existing substandard approach lights. The next item provides two aircraft ready shelters for four combatready aircraft. Next, we have the shelter for aircraft weapons calibration. Then we have a shop armament electronic base addition. Now the last item will provide a cold-storage plant to replace a temporary structure built in 1943. Senator STENNIS. Primarily, this is for what now? Colonel PARKHILL. Well, this is primarily for the tactical fighters. They do have a fighter-interceptor squadron here and the fighter shelter; the aircraft weapons calibration shelter and the armament electronic shops are for the fighter-interceptor squadrons. Senator STENNIS. I just don't see, gentlemen, how you can still be building new shops for fighter-interceptors. You are not expanding that program. I am not saying you are abandoning it, but it is not being expanded. Colonel PARKHILL. This item would replace an existing temporary structure which they have been using. It is not satisfactory. It cannot be made dustproof, for example, which is a requirement of maintenance of electronic gear. Senator STENNIS. All right, next item. GEORGE AIR FORCE BASE, VICTORVILLE, CALIF. Colonel PARKHILL. The next base is George AFB, Calif., page 265. It supports a tactical fighter wing with a fighter-interceptor squadron. There are two items for $359,000. The first is a standard aircraft weapons calibration shelter and the next is a shop armament electronic base. This is also a deficiency replacement. They require almost 35,000 square feet and they have about 27,000 square feet. We propose to give them the added requirement. Senator CASE. Why is the existing 7,760-foot-square footage facility unuseful? Mr. GIBBENS. Senator Case, the structures at George that are termed "unusable" are generally those that have been there since its inception which was back during World War II. I would think that the unusable area indicated here would be that in the old buildings that cannot be adequately protected from the desert dust out there for this armament electronic work. We do need a fairly dust free atmosphere and an air-conditioned atmosphere on much of this armament and electronic types of equipment. Colonel PARKHILL. This unusable 7,760-square-foot building will be used for some other maintenance or storage purpose. |