BRAC Ruling Leads To Groundbreaking Move

If you've ever been in the military, you probably know there's something of a good-natured rivalry between fighter and bomber crews. They seldom associate with each other, in fact.

That's why the pairing of Air National Guard pilots -- and their ground crews -- from the 131st Fighter Wing at Lambert Field in St. Louis, and B-2 crews at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, strikes us a bit odd. Especially since the ANG crews aren't bringing their F-15s with them.

Missouri's Congressional delegation says it's a way to get around base closures and realignment. As a result of the Base Realignment and Closure committee, the 131st will soon be evicted from Lambert -- and while its jets are destined to head to other bases, some of the remaining personnel will find themselves working alongside the 509th Bomb Wing.

"This is an unusual mix," said retired Air Force Colonel Thomas Keaney, who is now the director of the Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University, to the Kansas City Star. "There may be some reluctance on the part of fighter pilots to switch to bombers, and of the bomber pilots to share a plane like that."

In fact, the Air Force still isn't sure how they're going to make it all work out. Will the F-15 drivers find themselves in B-2 cockpits? Will the Eagle ground crews help maintain the Spirit bombers?

Maybe they won't have to comingle after all, though. A National Guard spokesman in Washington says this whole deal might work like a condominium time share. The former fighter crews might fly the B-2s part of the time... and the current B-2 crews could fly the rest of the time.

"We have this experience base of pilots in the Air National Guard," said National Guard Bureau spokesman Brad Swezey. "We have to make sure they’re flying important and relevant missions."

How they'll work out maintenance could be another question altogether, due to the highly specialized nature of the B-2, its systems and its mission requirements. Even it navigational tasks are plotted to the smallest detail -- not to mention the $15,000/hour cost of flying the B-2, and 40-50 hours of labor needed for every hour the B-2 is in the air.

"You don’t go around and jump in," Keaney said. "Any time we fly them it’s a big deal."

FMI: www.ang.af.mil, www.whiteman.af.mil/