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Mountain Home AFB may get Saudi training squadron
Mountain Home Air Force Base is believed to be on a list of bases being considered to support an F-15 training squadron from the Royal Saudi Air Force, the Mountain Home News has learned.
Saudi Arabia is in the midst of purchasing $60 billion worth of arms from the United States, including 84 F-15S fighter-bombers and upgrades to 70 other F-15s already in its inventory.
As part of the package, the Saudi government is looking at acquiring basing rights for a "desert environment" training squadron in the United States, and Mountain Home AFB is among the candidate bases being considered, the Mountain Home News has confirmed, from both military and political sources.
The arms sale has been in the works for several months and on Oct. 20 President Obama officially notified Congress of the potential sale. Congress had up to 30 days to block the sale, but did not. In the past Congress had been reluctant to sell arms to the Saudis due to concerns by the Israeli lobby and al-Queda's influence in the country (which the Suadi's have been vigorously fighting). But the Israelis indicated they would not object to this sale, which most observers believe is designed primarily as a counter by the Saudi government to it's growing concern over perceived threats from Iran.
Col. Ronald D. Buckley, commander of the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force base, called a meeting at the city library Thursday night, Dec. 2, to brief city and county officials on the possibility of a Saudi training squadron being based at Mountain Home.
Two prior meetings, including one on Dec. 1, have been held to brief members of the Shoshone-Paiute tribe at Duck Valley Indian Reservation. The meetings have included representatives of Air Combat Command.
Mayor Tom Rist said Friday morning that he was optimistic that Mountain Home would have a "very good shot" at obtaining the Saudi squadron, although he believed that Holloman AFB in New Mexico, Hill AFB in Utah and Nellis AFB in Nevada also were initially being considered, along with the local base.
Col. Buckley said the Air Force is expected to make an announcement some time this month but "no earlier" than Wednesday, Dec. 8, concerning potential bases under consideration.
"The Air Force will be doing a broad look at where, potentially, they can base these airplanes," Buckley said, adding that, "I think Mountain Home could be a serious contender based on the fact that we already fly F-15s, we're located in a desert environment and we have a world-class training range."
He said a full set of public hearings would be held at potential basing locations to inform the public and receive comments on any proposal put forward by the Air Force and Saudi government.
Coyt Hargus, deputy director of international affairs for Air Combat Command, said his visit to Mountain Home to assist with the briefing had been approved by the Secretary of the Air Force. "We wanted to aggressively get in front of this story," he said, indicating he expects the SecAF to announce a preferred alternative between Dec. 8-15.
Along with his boss, Dr. Albert Mitchum, director of international affairs for ACC, their visit to Mountain Home and the meetings with the tribes, had created a "positive impression. We were very well received."
But, he said there is a "lot of work that has to be done."
"We'll look at every base (in the country), but some are going to be excluded pretty quick" because they don't meet the Saudi criteria
"When you look at the requirements of the Saudi government -- a desert environment with mountainous terrain, there aren't a lot of other places that qualify," he said.
Hargus said the final decision would be made at the level of top leadership in Air Combat Command and the Secretary of the Air Force's office.
The base's wing commander said the basing arrangement would probably be similar to that of the Republic of Singapore Air Force, whose 428th Fighter Squadron is based at Mountain Home.
That squadron has approximately 180 "full time" personnel stationed on the base, plus crews rotating in for training. Including the families of those personnel, the squadron represents about 350 people living on base or in the local community.
Mayor Rist said the Saudi contingent would probably be a little larger because significant numbers of maintenance personnel would be temporarily assigned to the base for training purposes, in addition to the "permanent" crews.
According to Hargus, based on a "very preliminary" analysis, about $30-50 million in construction would be required for the facilities the Saudi Air Force would need.
Rist said if Mountain Home were selected as the site, following the appropriate hearings and processes required by law, that he'd been told construction could begin as early as June of 2011.
Hargus said the stand-up of the Royal Singapore Air Force squadron at Mountain Home, which he noted had been "very well received by the community," could serve as a model for the stand-up of any Saudi Air Force squadron.
He also pointed out that because of cultural issues that could arise, "there's a lot of communication that would have to be done" wherever the base is located. "There's a learning curve that everyone would be involved with."
Col. Buckley agreed that if Mountain Home AFB were selected, a lot of cultural awareness issues would have to be addressed, similar to those that preceded the Republic of Singapore's location of it's training squadron on base, but indicated he was confident all of those issues could be dealt with appropriately. At the same time, he said, it was too early to discuss any specifics.
Col. Buckley said that since 2007 the United States has trained over 1,000 Saudi pilots, maintainers and other support personnel at various training bases around the United States, but this would be the first time the Saudi government would actually set up a training squadron based inside the Continental United States. He also noted that several pilots currently assigned to the 366th Fighter Wing have done year-long cross-training assignments in Saudi Arabia in recent years.
Col. Buckley added that the strategic value of entering into such an arrangement with the government of Saudi Arabia would be "very important."