Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, when it comes to projecting America's power, I have said many times that North Carolina is the tip of the American spear. When our country calls, it is a safe bet that the first responders will be U.S. Marines from Camp Lejeune or our paratroopers of the 18th Airborne stationed at Fort Bragg.

The 18th Airborne is America's Global Response Force. When called, units of the 18th Airborne can be anywhere in the world within 48 hours. Because of this unique mission--unique to Fort Bragg and the 18th Airborne--Pope Army Airfield is the busiest tactical airfield in the Armed Forces.

Unfortunately, Pope is also home of the shortest runway in the Army. If the 18th Airborne is put on alert, C-5 and C-17 aircraft are needed to launch the force, and they cannot depart fully fueled with a full load of paratroopers and equipment off of the airfield. The current Pope Army Airfield runway provides only 8,500 feet for takeoff; however, to take off, the C-17 needs a minimum of 10,500 feet and the C-5 requires 11,500 feet.

The Air Force's air refueling fleet is already stressed. The C-17s and C-5s used to carry out the Global Response Force missions have to leave Pope Army Airfield with full equipment and paratroopers but only about 60 percent of their fuel capacity. This requires them to go either to Charleston, SC, or Gander, Newfoundland, to get refueled so they can continue their mission. One refueling stop for an airlift coming out of Pope at Gander, Newfoundland, costs $17,000 per hour. If 53 aircraft--roughly the number required to outload the heaviest brigade combat team--have to refuel at Gander, it costs about $2 million one-way because they can't be fully loaded when they take off from Pope Army Airfield. This refueling stop also adds 2.5 more hours to the time on the mission, and the mission objective is to be anywhere in the world in 48 hours.

Prior to the last round of BRAC, extending the Pope runway to accommodate fully loaded C-17 and C-5 aircraft was Air Mobility Command's No. 1 airfield project, and the U.S. Air Force said it was their No. 2 project. However, this has fallen off the Army's priority list, and I am not really sure why.

Extending the Pope runway to accommodate the airlift requirements of the Global Response Force and the 18th Airborne Corps is a national strategic priority. Therefore, I will be offering an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act during markup that requires the Army to report to the Senate their plans to extend the runway at Pope and whether it is the top priority for the Army. I think our paratroopers and crews need to know this. I know our taxpayers need to know this. And, more than anything, I want to make sure that when we deploy the proud men and women from the Green Ramp of Pope Army Airfield, we do it loaded and ready to go wherever they need to go in the United States or around the world. ______

By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. Merkley):

S. 2886. A bill to reauthorize the Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act of 2000; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

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