Aircraft Will Spray Oil Suppressant If Needed To Help Contain
Spill
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has authorized two Air Force
Reserve C-130H aircraft to support the response to a massive oil
slick that threatens wetlands and beaches along the Gulf Coast,
Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell confirmed late last
week.
In addition, the Navy has dispatched 66,000 feet of inflatable
oil boom with anchoring equipment, along with seven skimming
systems and their supporting gear to the region, Navy Lt. Myers
Vasquez reported.
The C130 crews, assigned to the 910th Airlift Wing's 757th
Airlift Squadron at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Ohio, had
prepositioned in Mississippi in anticipation of the tasking. "We
are posturing to be ready to provide support to the ongoing
emergency efforts if called upon," said Air Force Col. Craig
Peters, the 910th Operations Group commander.
The aircraft are equipped with Modular Aerial Spray Systems used
for aerial spray missions, Air Force Master Sgt. Bob Barko Jr., the
wing's public affairs superintendent, told American Forces Press
Service. They are expected to be called on to help disperse the oil
slick in accordance with a 1996 memo of understanding between the
Air Force and Coast Guard, Air Force officials said.
The 910th is home to the only full-time, fixed-wing, large-area
aerial spray unit within the Department of Defense. The unit
conducts spray missions at military installations and their
surrounding communities, primarily to control biting insects as
well as vegetation growth on bombing ranges, Barko said. However,
tests conducted between 1992 and 1994 at the Coast Guard's request
demonstrated the unit's capability to apply dispersing materials to
oil slicks, such as the one currently threatening the Gulf
Coast.
The aerial spray unit trains for this mission, most recently,
during a multi-agency international exercise in Brownsville, Texas,
in 2008, Barko said. "This is a situation we have trained for --
for years," Barko said of the Gulf mission. "To have the
opportunity to do it in the real world and help folks along the
Gulf Coast with this capability is really gratifying for everyone
involved."
The Navy equipment, along with 50 civilian operators and
maintainers contracted through Naval Sea Systems Command, began
arriving yesterday in Gulfport, Miss., from Williamsburg, VA, and
Port Hueneme, CA, Vasquez reported. The equipment was quickly
moved to the Mississippi state dock near Gulfport and put in use at
the direction of the federal on-scene coordinator, he said.