Eielson Air Force Base

Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks received a reprieve Tuesday afternoon, as Sen. Mark Begich's office announced an Air Force delay on a decision whether to move a squadron of F-16 fighter jets from the base to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. In a Tuesday statement, Begich says he received a letter from Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, who wrote that the Eielson delay comes after Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told the Air Force to suspend all force structure adjustments until Congress completes action on defense budget bills.

by Channel 2 News staff Thursday, April 22, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A top Air Force official told Sen. Lisa Murkowski Thursday that a coal-to-liquid plant at Eielson Air Force Base is still under consideration. Murkowski questioned Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Terry Yonkers, about the issue at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations- Military Construction Subcommittee. Yonkers said the Air Force is conducting feasibility and financial viability studies and also conducting a business case analysis to see if an enhanced base-use lease may be appropriate and financially viable.

by The Associated Press Sunday, February 14, 2010 FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- Brig. Gen. Mark Graper handed command of the 354th Fighter Wing to Col. James N. Post III during a ceremony at Eielson Air Force Base Friday. The base has become a destination for international military exercises, adding about 1,500 airmen in recent years. Graper came to Eielson in 2007 soon after the base avoided closure. He is moving to Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, where he will be vice commander of the 9th Air Expeditionary Task Force.

Community leaders in Fairbanks and North Pole have had a busy 24 hours, combing through a just-released report on an Air Force plan to relocate F-16 fighter jets from Eielson Air Force Base to Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage. The interior could lose at minimum 500 airmen and their families, according to the report. During a teleconference meeting with the Air Force, Friday, mayors and staffers for elected officials asked about everything from schools, to housing, to what to do with possible empty hangars up Eielson Air Force Base.

by The Associated Press Saturday, April 3, 2010 FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- The chief of staff for the Air Force says the military still has an important mission in Alaska. Gen. Norton A. Schwartz appeared Friday at a banquet put on by the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce. Schwartz says that with trillion-dollar deficits over the next 10 years, there will be pressure on the defense budget, and the Air Force might have to cut staff. Nevertheless, he told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that Eielson Air Force Base, which was scheduled to close in 2005, is "vitally important" to the Air Force and to protecting American power in the Pacific.

Alaska's U.S. senators are taking yet another approach in their efforts to ground an Air Force plan to move an F-16 fighter squadron from Fairbanks to Anchorage. Sens. Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski have written a letter (PDF) requesting that no money be allocated to pay for the move. The Air Force wants to move the 18th Aggressor Squadron, currently based at Eielson Air Force Base, to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. A report released by the Air Force last week claims the move, along with subsequent reductions in base operating support services at Eielson, will save some $227 million over the next five years.   Alaska's congressional delegation and political and civic leaders in Fairbanks dispute the amount of savings and argue that moving the jets, along with more than 500 airmen and their families, will damage the Fairbanks economy.

Alaska's largest scheduled military training exercise has been canceled for 2013, the latest victim of automatic budget cuts imposed by federal sequestration. In a Friday statement, the Alaskan Command says Northern Edge 2013 will no longer take place from June 17 through June 28 as scheduled. The exercise was slated to involve 9,000 active-duty and reserve service members, with virtual participation spread across nine time zones. “This decision does not signal an end to the Northern Edge series of exercises and future military training opportunities in the state of Alaska,” officials wrote in a statement.

Long before there was an oil boom in Alaska, the U.S. military was the main driver of the state economy and while its impact has lessened from Cold War peaks, it remains an indispensable part of life in the Last Frontier. Eighteen months before Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, the first military personnel arrived in Anchorage and by 1943 there were 152,000 troops in Alaska. World War II spurred the construction of the Alaska-Canada Highway as well as Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson in Anchorage.

The U.S. Senate has passed a defense funding bill one day after the House did so, sending several provisions that affect Alaska's military forces to President Obama's desk to be signed into law. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich's offices say the “conference report” version of the National Defense Authorization Act, adopted after a House-Senate conference to resolve differences between the two chambers' bills, was approved Friday on an 81-14 vote. Both Murkowski and Begich had inserted language into the bill meant to delay or block the Air Force's planned transfer of the 18th Aggressor Squadron from Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Thousands of members of the nation's armed services are participating in this year's Operation Northern Edge, Alaska's largest military exercise, over the next week and a half. Crews at Anchorage's Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson conducted final inspections on Navy and Air Force F/A-18 and F-15 fighter jets Thursday morning before takeoff. The fighters are just a few dozen of more than 100 planes taking part in the biennial war-games exercise. Likewise, the pilots and crews at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson are only part of the 6,000 people involved in Northern Edge across the state and around the world.

Alaska's largest scheduled military training exercise has been canceled for 2013, the latest victim of automatic budget cuts imposed by federal sequestration. In a Friday statement, the Alaskan Command says Northern Edge 2013 will no longer take place from June 17 through June 28 as scheduled. The exercise was slated to involve 9,000 active-duty and reserve service members, with virtual participation spread across nine time zones. “This decision does not signal an end to the Northern Edge series of exercises and future military training opportunities in the state of Alaska,” officials wrote in a statement.

The U.S. Senate has passed a defense funding bill one day after the House did so, sending several provisions that affect Alaska's military forces to President Obama's desk to be signed into law. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich's offices say the “conference report” version of the National Defense Authorization Act, adopted after a House-Senate conference to resolve differences between the two chambers' bills, was approved Friday on an 81-14 vote. Both Murkowski and Begich had inserted language into the bill meant to delay or block the Air Force's planned transfer of the 18th Aggressor Squadron from Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

The U.S. House passed a conference version Thursday of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2013, containing a number of amendments affecting Alaska's military forces made by the state's congressional delegation. Rep. Don Young's office says he voted for the bill incorporating changes from the Senate, which passed on a 315-107 vote, and now goes to the Senate. Sen. Lisa Murkowski's office says the Senate will probably take the bill up Friday, with Congress under pressure to send a final version of the NDAA to President Obama's desk this week before its Christmas recess.

Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks received a reprieve Tuesday afternoon, as Sen. Mark Begich's office announced an Air Force delay on a decision whether to move a squadron of F-16 fighter jets from the base to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. In a Tuesday statement, Begich says he received a letter from Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, who wrote that the Eielson delay comes after Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told the Air Force to suspend all force structure adjustments until Congress completes action on defense budget bills.

Alaska's U.S. senators are taking yet another approach in their efforts to ground an Air Force plan to move an F-16 fighter squadron from Fairbanks to Anchorage. Sens. Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski have written a letter (PDF) requesting that no money be allocated to pay for the move. The Air Force wants to move the 18th Aggressor Squadron, currently based at Eielson Air Force Base, to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. A report released by the Air Force last week claims the move, along with subsequent reductions in base operating support services at Eielson, will save some $227 million over the next five years.   Alaska's congressional delegation and political and civic leaders in Fairbanks dispute the amount of savings and argue that moving the jets, along with more than 500 airmen and their families, will damage the Fairbanks economy.

Community leaders in Fairbanks and North Pole have had a busy 24 hours, combing through a just-released report on an Air Force plan to relocate F-16 fighter jets from Eielson Air Force Base to Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage. The interior could lose at minimum 500 airmen and their families, according to the report. During a teleconference meeting with the Air Force, Friday, mayors and staffers for elected officials asked about everything from schools, to housing, to what to do with possible empty hangars up Eielson Air Force Base.

An Air Force report on the proposed move of an F-16 fighter squadron from Fairbanks to Anchorage estimates savings from the move, as well as subsequent base operations cutbacks, at more than $200 million over five years. The Site Activation Task Force report (PDF), released Thursday by the Pacific Air Forces, projects $14.6 million in savings over the next five fiscal years associated with moving more than 500 positions supporting the 18th Aggressor Squadron from Eielson Air Force Base to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, following initial costs of $5.6 million in fiscal year 2013.

Long before there was an oil boom in Alaska, the U.S. military was the main driver of the state economy and while its impact has lessened from Cold War peaks, it remains an indispensable part of life in the Last Frontier. Eighteen months before Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, the first military personnel arrived in Anchorage and by 1943 there were 152,000 troops in Alaska. World War II spurred the construction of the Alaska-Canada Highway as well as Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson in Anchorage.

On the outskirts of North Pole, about 10 miles along the Richardson Highway from Eielson Air Force Base, sits Little Richard's Family Diner. Customers chow down on the restaurant's many specialties, including buffalo burgers -- but these days, they're also filled with concern about the base's future. “If there's any one topic that's discussed at this counter all day long, that's it -- people are worried,” said diner owner Edward Richards. “I hear it all day long.” The Air Force first proposed the transfer of 21 F-16 Falcon fighter jets from Eielson to Anchorage's Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in early February, issuing a report on “USAF Force Structure Changes” that said the move would “achieve savings in base support at Eielson” starting in fiscal year 2015.

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski delivered her annual speech to the Alaska State Legislature on Thursday, but some of her most powerful comments came after her prepared remarks during a question-and-answer session with Alaska lawmakers. Murkowski answered questions on everything from military spending and energy priorities to concerns over the prosecutorial misconduct during the trial of the late Sen. Ted Stevens. On the latter point, brought up by Sen. Lesil McGuire (R-Anchorage)