Malmstrom Air Force Base crews will begin the year-long process of removing 50 missiles from the 564th Squadron north of Great Falls by late next week, Col. Sandy Finan, base commander, announced Monday.
"The 341st Space Wing has a long and proud history," Finan said. "Even though we're deactivating one squadron of 50 missiles, we will continue to operate, maintain, secure and support the other 150 missiles very well and very safely."
Malmstrom will lose about 500 of its 3,600 military employees when the primary missile deactivation is completed in a year, plus the $3.2 million it receives to operate the squadron.
Finan's announcement was not unexpected, although Montana's congressional delegation had vowed to continue to fight to keep all 200 Minuteman III missiles at Malmstrom.
"We've been anticipating this announcement for many months," said attorney Warren Wenz, a leader in the Chamber of Commerce Committee of 80 group that lobbies to keep and add to military missions at Malmstrom and the Montana Air National Guard.
"It's a disappointment to the Great Falls area to lose the missiles and military people," Wenz said. "But we need to appreciate the military's desire to downsize. They obviously believe the country will be adequately protected with 450 land-based missiles, not the present 500.
"But we will continue our efforts with Montana's congressional delegation to find other missions for Malmstrom."
Great Falls officials have worked with the congressional delegation on several possible military or homeland defense missions for Malmstrom, including reopening its runway for use by a wing of F-15 fighters shared with the Montana Air National Guard or a unit of unmanned "drones" aircraft.
U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, in Great Falls for Monday's Farm Bill hearing, said they were "upset and disappointed by this decision."
In a joint statement, the two Democrats said they made it very clear that they did not support any plan to remove missiles from Montana.
"Now we are committed to redoubling our efforts to secure a new mission for Malmstrom," they said. "We will continue to look for every opportunity to keep Malmstrom at the heart of our nation's military."
U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., said "Malmstrom's role in America's defense is still as important as ever. The silver lining is that Malmstrom is a top-notch base and we're in a strong position to make our case heard that it should be home to a new mission."
In early 2006, military planners in the Quadrennial Defense Review concluded that 50 of the nation's 500 land-based missiles could be removed for strategic reasons without weakening the nation's defense.
The Air Force selected the 50 missiles of Malmstrom's 564th Squadron for elimination. They said the missiles operated and maintained between Shelby and Dutton use a different internal communications system than the nation's other nine squadrons. As such, it requires separate training, personnel and equipment that cost extra money.
But missile states congressional members attached an amendment to last year's budget bill that required the Defense Department to further justify the cuts. In its report early this spring the Air Force said the 50 missiles were excess and that it can meet its deterrent requirements with 450 missiles.
By last Friday, with a final environmental impact approved, Gen. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff, directed Finan to have Malmstrom begin deactivating the 564th's 50 missiles.
In a press conference on the grounds of Malmstrom's museum, with the shell of a Minuteman III missile as a backdrop Monday, Finan said:
# Malmstrom crews will begin pulling missiles within two weeks in Phase I, which will last about a year. That will mean the booster stages, re-entry systems, including nuclear warheads, and missile guidance systems, will be removed at a rate of one missile a week.
The environmental impact statement explained that the booster stages will be used for periodic testing of the nation's remaining 450 missiles, which could extend their operational life by a dozen years to 2030.
# Malmstrom would not lose the 500 positions until after that first phase is completed. Even then, military folks are unlikely to lose jobs, Finan said. Some will take other roles at Malmstrom, some will be reassigned to other bases and some will be retrained.
# The total deactivation process will cost the Air Force about $10 million to $11 million. It cost Malmstrom about $3.2 million a year to operate the squadron, but the Air Force has not calculated how much additional money was spent because of the squadron's unique, and costlier, communications system.
# The Air Force expects to retain the 50 missile silos and five launch control facilities indefinitely but has no plans to reactivate them.
The environmental impact statement said the Air Force will place them on "30 percent caretaker status," which involves driving by the sites occasionally to prevent vandalism and check for flooding or excessive weed growth.
The Air Force does not propose to implode or dismantle the launch control sites and silos, as it was required by an arms control treaty to do when the missile wing at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota was deactivated in the late 1990s.
Malmstrom Readies To Remove 50 Missiles
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