(File photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD — The F-15s assigned to the Air National Guard 104th Fighter Wing will vacate Barnes Regional Airport, and temporarily return to the Cape Cod Otis Air Base on Camp Edwards while a $20.66 million runway rehabilitation project, slated to begin next month, is underway.
The runway rehabilitation work involves a number of funding sources, including the Department of Defense, the state, as well as the FAA which will contribute $10 million to the project. The city’s share is set at 2 1/2 percent of the FAA grant, in this case $250,000.
Brian Barnes, Barnes Regional Manager said earlier this spring that the FAA is paying for repair of only 7,000 feet of the runway and that the military and state Air National Guard, which needs a 9,000-foot-long runway for the F-15 fighters station at the base, will pay about $11 million for additional work.
The goal of Barnes officials is to complete the rehabilitation project within the current calendar year. The final engineering work began in March, with the actual construction start programmed for July, pending receipt of FAA and state funding.
“We’re at the early planning stages,” City Advancement Officer Jeff Daley said. “The average life span of these runways is 20 years. The current runway has been in use of 28 years, so it’s a very important project for the airport.”
Daley, who is helping secure federal and state funding, said recently that the runway reconstruction will not close the airport to civilian aircraft traffic.
“There will be no interruption to civilian aircraft operations,” Daley said. “Corporate and private aircraft will be able to use runway 15/30 during the reconstruction.”
“The F-15 needs a longer runway so they will not be able to stay,” Daley said. “The project timeline is for 120 days, so the preliminary plan is to use another airport for flight operations, but all other Air Guard administrative function will remain at Barnes.”
“The new runway will be a top of the line, a first-call facility that will attract aircraft to Barnes,” Daley said. “We hope that the new runway and all of the other improvements being made at Barnes will attract new tenants.”
Daley said the new runway will have a greater load-bearing capability, allowing a broad range of aircraft to access the airport.
“It will be more stable, so it will take heavier aircraft,” he said.
A major tenant of Barnes, Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., recently opened a new 125,000-square-foot maintenance facility built to service those larger corporate jet airframes.
Reconstruction of the main runway (2/20) at Barnes will displace the F-15 fighter jets of the 104th Air National Guard Fighter Wing for the duration of the project. The original plan considered was to relocate the aircraft to Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee and maintain operations at Barnes.
Brigadier General Gary Keefe, Commander Massachusetts Air National Guard, said that “Westover being the great neighbors and partners they are offered the 104FW plenty of ramp space. However, due to their mission demands (the Air Reserve) they didn’t have enough covered hanger space to accommodate the approximate 14 (F-15) jets that would be flying out of there. We don’t want to leave the multimillion dollar aircraft out in the elements, especially during thunderstorm, tornado, and hail seasons, in addition to hurricane season in late summer.”
“Right now Air Combat Command, NORTHCOM, 1st Air Force, and Guard Bureau have agreed to the plan to have the Air Sovereignty Alert Mission flown from Otis ANGB using the former 102nd Fighter Wing Alert Hangers, and some temporary facilities to support alert personnel,” Keefe said.
The 104th Fighter Wing plans to move about a third of its operations and support staff to Otis as part of the temporary F15 relocation.
UPDATE: Twelve F-15 Eagles will operate from Westover during the summer. During the scheduled runway construction at Barnes Air National Guard Base this summer, the unit’s F-15 operations will be split between the 102nd Intelligence Wing in Cape Cod and the 439th Air Reserve Wing in Chicopee Mass.
The 104th Fighter Wing will maintain its alert posture within the existing alert-infrastructure at Cape Cod while the training missions will fly out of Westover Air Reserve Base.
“We anticipate approximately twelve F-15s will be based at Westover as we complete our construction projects here at Barnes,” said Col. James Keefe, 104th Fighter Wing Commander. “Operating our training missions out of Westover Air Reserve Base will allow us to maintain our proficiency, while we maintain our alert posture at Otis.”
As previously announced, some of the 104th Fighter Wing members and aircraft will simultaneously operate the alert mission from the Cape, utilizing some of the preexisting infrastructure that was left in place following the F-15s transition to Westfield in 2008.
The expected runway repair time is 4-6 months, beginning this summer. The jets are expected to return to Barnes at the end of this calendar year.
“Westover is glad to support the 104th Fighter Wing by hosting some of their F-15Cs for as long as necessary,” said Col. Steven Vautrain, 439th Airlift Wing Commander. “In these times of austerity, we’re glad to make every effort to be a Total Force partner and keep operating costs as low as possible.”
