EDWARDS WON'T GET SQUADRONS.

Byline: Jim Skeen and Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writers

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - An Arizona base is being recommended as the home of three combat search-and-rescue squadrons, beating out Edwards for a unit that would have brought 1,200 more military personnel.

In a draft copy of an environmental assessment, the Air Force listed Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson as the preferred choice over Edwards Air Force Base and Vandenberg Air Force Base.

``Davis-Monthan is the preferred alternative, however we won't know for sure what the (main operating base) will be until the announcement,'' said 2nd Lt. Michael J. Meridith, a spokesman for the Air Force Air Combat Command.

Locating in Arizona would require fewer personnel, less construction and would avoid more detailed air quality studies that would be required for the two California bases, the report says.

Air Force Air Combat Command commander Gen. Hal Hornburg is expected to make a decision by the end of the month, Meridith said.

Edwards officials will not participate in the decision.

``The base will maintain total neutrality,'' Edwards spokesman John Haire said.

The unit would consist of three squadrons - one with 13 HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters that can pick up downed pilots, one with 11 HC-130 airplanes that can drop supplies and refuel the helicopters, and one with pararescue jumpers and other search-and-rescue specialists.

The biggest environmental concern to the Air Force was air quality standards. Arizona uses national standards for its air quality while California has instituted more stringent requirements.

The operations of the combat search and rescue unit's helicopters and airplanes in California raises the potential for ozone and particulate standards to be exceeded, the report said.

Basing the unit at either Edwards or Vandenberg would require ``additional, detailed analysis,'' the environmental assessment said.

The relocation is expected to begin this fall and be completed by 2007.

The combat search and rescue unit will be part of the Air Force's Air Combat Command and Davis-Monthan is already a part of that command.

Locating at Edwards, an Air Force Materiel Command base, would have required additional support functions being brought in and would have raised the total number of people needed for the unit to 1,200 people compared with 1,059 in Arizona.

Locating the unit at Edwards' North Base area would have required building 1.2 million square feet of paved aircraft parking area, hangars, offices and other facilities, compared to 636,000 square feet of new facilities needed at Davis-Monthan, the report said.

Edwards officials had said in May 2001 that the base was being considered as a home for the combat search-and-rescue wing, the Air Force Reserve's 939th Rescue Wing now based in Portland, Ore.

The unit is being moved from reserve to active duty and will fall under Air Combat Command.

The 939th has been noted for missions during combat as well as during peacetime. The unit was involved in the rescue of a stealth fighter pilot shot down during the Bosnian conflict and has taken part in numerous search-and-rescue missions in Oregon.

In 2000, the Air Force announced it was switching the search-and-rescue unit from the reserves to active duty to help implement what the service calls the Expeditionary Aerospace Force. The idea is to link together units that will serve together on overseas deployments.

This was not the first time Edwards has been considered as the home for a unit not engaged in flight testing. Edwards became the home for two reserve Marine Corps squadrons in 1998 as the result of the closure of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Edwards was also considered for the home of the first fleet of unmanned Global Hawk spy planes but lost out to Beale Air Force Base in Northern California.