Civic leaders get insider look at range

  • Published
  • By Capt. Gerardo Gonzalez
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Thirty six government and business leaders from communities surrounding Luke Air Force Base, Davis-Monthan AFB and Fort Huachuca received an insider's look into the Barry M. Goldwater Range and Gila Bend Auxiliary Airfield Oct. 8 through 9. 

The 56th Fighter Wing sponsored the civic leader tour to give the Arizona leaders a better understanding of the use and value of the BMGR and the Gila Bend airfield. 

Among the visitors were members of base support groups Fighter Country Partnership, Davis-Monthan-50 and Fort Huachuca-50. The trip included a tour of Gila Bend, the BMGR ranges and the archeological sites found on the range. 

"The BMGR is a national treasure that can't be duplicated or replaced anywhere else in this country," said Brig. Gen. Kurt Neubauer, 56th Fighter Wing commander, during his welcome remarks at Gila Bend. "On this range we train over 95 percent of F-16 pilots for the Air Force. Many of these pilots will be flying in combat over Iraq and Afghanistan within months of arriving at their gaining bases, and the terrain and training environment on the BMGR emulates exactly what they'll see in combat." 

Since the 355th FW at Davis-Monthan is the only A-10 Thunderbolt II training wing in the Air Force, essentially all A-10 pilots are trained at the range, said Jim Uken, 56th Range Management Office director. The range is also used by active-duty, Guard and Reserve Army, Navy and Marine units. 

Features of the 1.7 million acre range include radar control, tactical data link, large-scale laser target scoring system, "smokey" surface to air missiles to give pilots realistic training against air defenses and a recent addition has been a moving target system. 

"This is the first-ever 'dynamic' ground target on the BMGR," said Mr. Uken about the target system. 

Commanders in the field requested the system to help train pilots for real-world combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr. Uken said. 

Luke F-16 Fighting Falcon and Davis-Monthan A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft practiced day and night bombing, rocket attacks, and strafing runs during the civic leader visit to demonstrate capabilities of the jets and the range. 

The Davis-Monthan visitors had the opportunity to see their own Brig. Gen. Paul Johnson, 355th FW commander, fly as flight lead of a four-ship formation of A-10s during the day training session. 

"PJ [Gen. Johnson] and I served as instructor pilots in the Fighter Weapons School at Nellis AFB in the early 90's, so its great to serve with him all these years later here in Arizona," General Neubauer said. "He won't tell you, but he's an Air Force Cross recipient -- a bona fide Air Force hero." 

Civic leaders also had the opportunity to learn about conservation efforts on the range regarding endangered animal species, such as the Sonoran pronghorn antelope, and 56th RMO protection of the more than 1,200 cultural and archeological sites discovered so far. 

"We may actually have some of the oldest archeological sites in North America at the range," said Dr. David Doyel, 56th RMO archeologist, during a briefing at one of the sites.
General Neubauer called the civic leader trip a success and expressed his gratitude for the Davis-Monthan team's participation. 

"The special partnership Luke and Davis-Monthan enjoys is based on three pillars: our common mission, our common vision, and the tremendous support and kinship of our local communities." the general said. "And the fact that both wing commanders are service buddies doesn't hurt either."