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VAFB would gain jobs under plan
By Janene Scully/Associate Editor

A proposal to close Onizuka Air Force Station in Sunnyvale would bring dozens of jobs to the Central Coast under the Defense Department's plan to reshape its bases.

Vandenberg Air Force Base would gain some 145 new jobs under the proposed Base Realignment and Closure list released early Friday morning by U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"We'll take any and all activity that they want to give us here," said Orcutt resident Dave Richardson, chairman of Friends of Vandenberg Air Force Base, which formed to lobby for the base.

"It's obviously exciting we're going to be getting new missions at Vandenberg Air Force Base," said Denny Anderson, president and chief executive officer of the Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce.

"It will be a great addition for the economy of the Central Coast. We'll look forward to working with new folks coming in," he added.

After the list's release, aides to local members of Congress - Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, and Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley - scrambled to assess the gains and losses for Central California.

And those reviewing the list note that it's simply a recommendation, which goes next to the independent BRAC Commission for a decision.

Between Onizuka activities and a unit in Portland, Ore., Vandenberg would gain 44 military slots and 101 civilian jobs under this BRAC proposal.

Vandenberg's gains would come from the closure of Onizuka, home to the Air Force Satellite Control Network's Second Node and scheduling backup mission. The installation's personnel and equipment would be sent to Vandenberg.

While Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., is designated as best suited for satellite operation facilities, the military wants to create a secondary site in case of man-made or natural threats.

Onizuka has "seismic and anti-terrorism/force protection constraints, with no buildable land to mitigate these," the BRAC report says.

Vandenberg also offers better protection for the satellite system antenna complex, which is designated as a top resource.

Sunnyvale Air Force Station formed in 1968 and was renamed Onizuka Air Force Station in the 1980s in honor of Lt. Col. Ellison Onizuka, who died in the Challenger explosion. The site's most prominent feature is a four-story blue building without windows that is nicknamed the "Blue Cube."

The Onizuka activities would join similar missions now operating at Vandenberg Tracking Station, informally called Big Sky Ranch. That facility is known to most as the huge antenna collection that sits on a hill between Highway 1 and Lompoc-Casmalia Road.

Some of the other additions for Vandenberg would come from closing the Portland International Air Guard Station in Oregon, though those details are not completely clear.

While that facility's aircraft will move to other bases, a small unit of combat support personnel - such as public affairs, transportation, administration and others - would come to the Central Coast. A boost to Vandenberg's manpower for combat support jobs would be welcomed at the base, which is coping with an increasing number of deployments to military activities around the world.

Area lawmakers welcomed the news that Vandenberg's role would be enhanced under the BRAC proposal.

"With the pluses we see as recommendations it's just a clear indication what a wonderful facility Vandenberg is and what it is providing for us nationally," Gallegly said. "It is truly a pearl in the Air Force arsenal."

"The base is critical to our national security mission and also is vital to our local economy, especially in spurring the development of the local commercial space industry," Capps said. "I will continue to work to ensure that the importance of the missions and the bases are strongly considered during the rest of this process."

Because of Vandenberg's unique role launching satellites and testing missiles, defense officials previously have removed it from closure consideration at the start of BRAC reviews. The recent addition of missile-defense interceptors only adds to the base's importance and local officials' belief that it wouldn't land on the closure list this time around, either.

"I think everyone would have been really shocked, and no one more than I, had Vandenberg really been seriously questioned about any serious negative changes," Gallegly said.

* Associate Editor Janene Scully can be reached at 739-2214 or by e-mail at janscully@pulitzer.net