Jun 07, 2008 - 04:07:02 CDT
GRAND FORKS (AP) - Officials here are hoping the ouster of the Air Force's top military leader does not hurt hopes for a new line of air refueling tankers at Grand Forks Air Force Base.Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday accepted the resignations of Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley and also Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, the top civilian leader. The move came after embarrassing nuclear mix-ups, including one that originated at Minot Air Force Base last fall.
Moseley visited the Grand Forks base several times and has said he favored expanding the base's mission to include unmanned aerial vehicles as well as a new line of tanker aircraft. The new UAVs are in a 2009 budget proposal, but the future of the new tankers is not as certain.
"You're always concerned with the unknown, and honestly this comes as such a shock to all of us," said John Marshall, who led the fight to keep the Grand Forks base open during the Base Realignment and Closure round in 2005.
Military leaders decided to keep the Grand Forks base open and give it a new mission but called for the base to lose most of its flying tankers and about three-fourths of its 2,800 airmen over five years.
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said he trusts Moseley's replacement will honor his commitment to strongly consider the Grand Forks base as a potential home for new tankers. But local base supporters said any change in top leadership always brings uncertainty.
"We don't know who the replacement will be, how soon (that replacement will be named), and how that will ultimately affect Grand Forks," Marshall said.
"We've got to do whatever we can to get those tankers in here as soon as we can and anything we can to get those UAVs here as soon as we can," he said.
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