RUMORED PLAN TO MERGE BASE ALARMS OFFICIALS.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer While the Air Force says there are no such plans afoot, Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley leaders are concerned about the prospects of Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. being placed under the control of a Florida base, a move that would strip away programs and jobs. Antelope Valley officials say there is a proposal within the Air Force to make the Flight Test Center, the main unit at Edwards, a wing of a test and evaluation center at Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is the home of the United States Air Force 96th Air Base Wing of the Air Force Materiel Command, and is also headquarters for more than 45 associate units. . Such a move could cut the Flight Test Center's work force by 40 percent to two-thirds. The Defense Department is conducting a study dubbed dub 1 tr.v. dubbed, dub·bing, dubs 1. To tap lightly on the shoulder by way of conferring knighthood. 2. To honor with a new title or description. 3. ``Vision 21'' looking at a variety of ideas on how to consolidate its test and evaluation bases, but Pentagon officials say there are no firm proposals at this point. The effort is in a fact-finding stage at this point and the earliest the Pentagon could start forming recommendations is January 1998, said Air Force spokesman Wes Davis. Antelope Valley leaders, however, are fearful for the future of Edwards, which has approximately 13,000 workers - the largest employment center in the Antelope Valley. Of that total work force, the Air Force Flight Test Center employs 3,632 military personnel and 2,899 government civilians. ``I think it's more real than people realize,'' Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts Frank Roberts may refer to:
Antelope Valley leaders say if any consolidation plan is based on merit and not politics, Edwards will prevail. Eglin faces urban encroachment An illegal intrusion in a highway or navigable river, with or without obstruction. An encroachment upon a street or highway is a fixture, such as a wall or fence, which illegally intrudes into or invades the highway or encloses a portion of it, diminishing its width or area, but on its test ranges and lacks the vast and varied terrain that Edwards can use, they say. |
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