DEFENSE COMPLEX FACES TOUGH SELL.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Consolidating military tests and training in the Southwestern states, a favorite cause of Antelope Valley leaders, is gaining support in the Defense Department, but the idea faces a long, rocky road before it can become a reality.

Antelope Valley leaders support the so-called Southwest Defense Complex idea, believing it will bring programs and jobs to Edwards Air Force Base, the Antelope Valley's largest center of employment, and the China Lake Naval Weapons Center near Ridgecrest.

There are signs of increasing interest in the concept inside the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Philip Coyle III, the Defense Department's director of operational test and evaluation, said he strongly supports the complex, and Jacques Gansler, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and technology, has asked the vice chiefs of staff to study the concept.

``The feedback we're getting is there is a lot of interest in the concept,'' said Bob Johnstone, an aerospace consultant to the city of Lancaster and an organizer of the Southwest Defense Alliance, a nonprofit organization trying to build support for the complex. ``The question is how do you implement it.''

Pentagon officials see the complex being run under a single command, which they think could bring private industrylike management - and savings - to the bases in the complex.

``If we had a single management, a single funding source, that single management might look at how we spend in a corporate way,'' said John Gehrig, deputy director of resources and administration in the Defense Department's Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation.

But the idea has its skeptics, notably some of the test range commanders who doubt if, after all of the pain of setting a single command structure and figuring out funding sources, there would any real savings.

``In an academic environment, it's very attractive,'' said Maj. Gen. Dick Reynolds, commander of Edwards. ``In the real world, it starts to look like an idea that looks good on paper but dumb in practice.''

Another skeptic is George Orlicki, technical director and chief operating officer of the Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Orlicki questioned whether there would be any real savings and said such a complex would be politically impossible to set up because it would be a threat to eastern bases.

``The Southwest Defense Complex is a farce,'' Orlicki said. ``You're either going to do the ranges as a whole or you're going to have a disaster.''

For the Southwest Defense Complex to become a reality, it will likely require another round of military base closures. The Defense Department is making a major push for two more rounds of base closures, one in 2001 and another in 2005.

Believing there's no hope in getting approval for base closures during an election year, the Defense Department is waging an all-out lobbying blitz to get that approval this year. That effort, however, is facing major resistance in the House of Representatives and has only limited support in the Senate.

``The only way you're going to get savings is through closures,'' said Phil Brady, a Lancaster aerospace consultant. ``They (Congress) recognize the need for a BRAC (base closure and realignment commission), but they don't want any involvement from this administration,'' Brady said.

If the issue is put off until another presidential administration, that would allow time for the Southwest Defense Alliance to strengthen its organization. The alliance is composed of political and business leaders from Arizona, California, New Mexico and Utah.

Nevada has expressed an interest in joining the alliance, as well as Texas.

Secretary of Defense William Cohen does have the authority to force the services to create the complex without going through the base closure process and without congressional approval, provided he does not relocate more than 300 workers.

However, Cohen knows there is ``a history of failures in forcing the services into doing something they don't want to do,'' said Patricia Sanders, director of testing, systems engineering and evaluation.

Getting endorsement from the services is vital.

``If you have enough confidence, there's a greater chance of success. If you don't have the confidence, it's a pretty tough fight to take on,'' Sanders said.