C-130 News: Tillis amendment to add C-130H aircraft at Fort Bragg passes Senate

[casey]

The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a measure by North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis that Tillis said would keep C130H aircraft at Fort Bragg’s Pope Airfield even if the Air Force goes ahead with plans to inactivate the 440th Airlift Wing.

Tillis in a statement said that the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act would move nine upgraded C-130H aircraft to Pope Airfield at Fort Bragg. They would replace the six aircraft that the Air Force plans to remove, Tillis said.

 

The Air Force plans to inactivate the air wing as a budget-saving move. The 440th Air Wing, which supports global response and special operations units, is staffed by more than 1,000 Reservists.

“I am pleased that my Senate colleagues and I found a solution that would not only save, but increase and improve the C-130H presence at Fort Bragg, effectively stopping the Air Force leadership’s short-sighted and strategically flawed plan to remove all C-130Hs from Pope Airfield,” Tillis said in a statement.

 

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., was one of the amendment’s co-sponsors.

“I am tremendously pleased that Pope Army Airfield at Fort Bragg will remain the premier training ground for our nation’s combat ready paratroopers. They are the tip of the spear for our intelligence and special operations communities, Burr said in a statement. “Adding this amendment to the final Defense authorization bill ensures modernized aircraft will not be disposed of, but will instead fulfill their military purpose by directly contributing to the training and readiness of our airborne and special operations troops.”

The amendment’s outcome isn’t certain. The Senate hasn’t voted yet on the National Defense Authorization Act. If it does vote and the bill passes, a conference committee that will merge the House and Senate versions would have to approve the C130H amendment.

Tillis said the Air Force planned to get rid of five upgraded C-130H aircraft now based at Little Rock that will be moved to Fort Bragg under his plan instead. He said using the aircraft in North Carolina would save taxpayers $300 million. Four other C-130s will be upgrade with previously purchased kits and also transferred to the base.

View original article: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article23139069.html

 

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[olcatmech2]

Well I am proud of the two NC senators for their efforts in this.  I remember when Pope Air Force Base was a nice big base to visit and do exercises.  Now with the

panty waists that run the AF, they want to call it Pope field!

[Railrunner130]

Um..... That last paragraph makes me wonder....Are they talking about moving the AMPed airplanes to Pope and then AMPing four more airplanes? If not, I'm not sure what else they could be talking about.

[AMPTestFE]

That's what it sounds like to me...

[AMPTestFE]

When looking through the congressional record, it looks like the language was toned down quite abit, so that it doesn't grab the AMP planes.  Harry Reid changed the language to require the AF to assess the needs of the 82nd before moving any C-130s out of Pope.

Here's the record:

"The thrust of the gentleman’s
amendment is that these aircraft be
transferred to Pope Air Force Base in
North Carolina, but they would not
really be effectively utilized by the
forces there and would not, in my view
at least, contribute to the training and
the real-time operations of the 82nd
Airborne Division, the XVIII Airborne
Corps, and the special operations forces
that are there.
So rather than doing that, what we
did in the underlying legislation at section
136 is to go through and quite
clearly have a careful review of the
adequacy of aircraft to support operations
of the paratroop forces at Fort
Bragg so that the Air Force is fully
supportive of this very important
issue. The 82nd is America’s most
ready Army force, and of course we
know special forces operators are all
across the globe constantly.
So my comments are that this
amendment would not essentially help
what I think is the underlying goal,
which is to ensure that our airborne
forces have the platforms necessary. It
would, in fact, restrict the flexibility of
the Air Force in terms of using C–130
aircraft. It would practically have the
effect of simply taking aircraft that
because of their modification and their
nonstandardization are being parked at
Little Rock and moving them without
effect, I think, on the operational capacity
and capabilities of our airborne
forces.
So as a result, I believe our best approach
is to stay with the language in
the underlying bill, section 136,
which—to the credit of Senator TILLIS,
he was very adamant about including—
would have a careful review of the
operational capacity of the Air Force
to support the airborne operations.
It would include the ability of commanders
from the corps level, XVIII
Airborne Corps, 82nd, Special Operations
Command, to comment effectively
on whether the Air Force was
doing this. After such a review and
analysis, we could make better decisions
about the allocation of the Air
Force aircraft.
Again, ironically—and again it
strikes me that simply moving these
aircraft—which are sort of one-of-akind
aircraft—to Pope would not help
the airborne operations of our military
forces. They would simply involve additional
cost, and they would not be
part of the ability of our Air Force and
our mobility command to support a
wide range of missions. They would
complicate, rather than simplify, our
ability to respond.
So for that, when this vote, which is
scheduled later today, comes up for a
vote, I will oppose it, and I will do so
because I believe—in the underlying
legislation, through the work of Senator
TILLIS particularly—we have an
appropriate response to the issue of
flexibility, mobility, and operational
capacity of our airborne forces at Fort
Bragg.
With that, I suggest the absence of a
quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.
FLAKE). The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk
proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, I ask
unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
objection, it is so ordered."

He also mistakenly stated there are 3 modified AMP birds, when in fact there are 5.