BASE COMMANDER SEES HARD TIMES; EDWARDS MUST DO MORE WITH LESS, GENERAL TELLS PALMDALE CHAMBER.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Edwards Air Force Base will have to do more work with fewer resources as it deals with tough budget times and with a drive to privatize Defense Department jobs, Brig. Gen. Richard Reynolds said Wednesday.

Reynolds, who has been the commander of Edwards since July 24, told the Palmdale Chamber of Commerce the base will see its flight test hours increase from 4,600 this year to 5,500 in 1999. At the same time, there will still be pressure to trim costs, in particular by turning federal jobs over to contractors.

``The question I get asked all the time is, Will the work force be steady or will there be change? There's going to be change,'' Reynolds said. ``It's something we're not looking forward to, but we have to do.''

Edwards, like the rest of the U.S. military, is having to grapple with declining defense budgets. The situation has gotten to the point where the Joint Chiefs of Staff are sounding alarm bells about military readiness.

Part of the problem has been the resistance by Congress to closing additional military bases.

Reynolds is leading Edwards at a time when there is a surge of flight test activity. Among the projects on the base calendar are the F-22 Raptor, a new air superiority fighter; the X-33, a suborbital experimental aircraft intended to test technologies for a new spaceship; and Global Hark and DarkStar, unmanned reconnaissance planes.

``Much of that testing will be done on the newest systems coming into the inventory,'' Reynolds said.

Edwards is now testing two F-22s, which have been rocking the Antelope Valley recently with sonic booms. The Raptor test force will eventually grow to 11 aircraft.

``The program is doing very well,'' Reynolds said. ``We expect it to be a success.''

Although Reynolds is relatively new as Edwards' commander, he spent five years at the base in the 1980s, flying and serving as operations officer for the B-1 bomber test program. Then a major, he survived the Aug. 29, 1984, B-1A crash that killed Rockwell test pilot Doug Benefield.

A 1971 Air Force Academy graduate and former B-52 bomber pilot, Reynolds commanded the 4952nd Test Squadron at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and served as program director for several aircraft programs, most recently the B-2 stealth bomber.

Reynolds' last assignment was at the Pentagon, serving as program executive officer for airlift and trainer aircraft.

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PHOTO (Color) REYNOLDS