WASHINGTON - North Dakota's Minot Air Force Base will house a new squadron of B-52 bombers, the state's congressional delegation announced Tuesday.

Sens. Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan and Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., say the new squadron will bring 1,000 people to the base and will increase the total number of combat-ready B-52s from 12 to 22. It could inject as much as $75 million a year into the Minot community, they said.

"This is good news for our nation's military capabilities, the mission at Minot Air Force Base, and the entire Minot community," the delegation said in a joint statement.

North Dakota's delegation has fought to push back military efforts to cut the number of B-52 bombers to 56. Conrad said the new squadron means a total of 76 planes in North Dakota and at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. An additional 17 planes will be maintained for parts but not associated with crews.

The B-52 has been widely used in Afghanistan and is able to drop an array of weapons. Conrad said the goal of the new squadron is to keep one squadron always in training.

The Air Force did not return a call Tuesday for comment.

The Minot base's 5th Bomb Wing recently was recertified in the handling of nuclear weapons after months of retraining and sanctions imposed on about 65 airmen. That followed a mix-up last year in which a B-52 bomber mistakenly flew to Louisiana armed with nuclear missiles.

Under a change announced in February, the Air Force said B-52 crews assigned to training for a nuclear attack mission will do that exclusively for at least six months at a time.

Dorgan said Tuesday the delegation has no timetable yet for the new bomber squadron but he believes it will happen quickly. The Air Force has estimated the B-52 bomber has another 30 years of life, he said.

"The B-52 is the cheapest bomber to fly," Dorgan said. "It makes a lot more sense for them to keep that bomber in the force."

The new squadron is a huge boost for the Minot base, and "it's also going to be a big boost to Minot economy," he said.