By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A new air traffic control tower, a new terminal, and in-coming state funds will remake Rosecrans Memorial Airport, all in a concerted effort to keep the Air National Guard 139th Airlift Wing in St. Joseph.
The 139th didn’t get the new C-130 “J” models during the National Guard Bureau’s first allocation of the replacement cargo planes, making some in St. Joseph nervous about the 139th’s future.
St. Joseph Airport Manager Julius Rice, a part-time Guard pilot, says many of the improvements underway at Rosecrans are designed to meet the Guard Bureau’s criteria for the new planes.
“Having modern facilities is kind of bonus points, but moving the fuel farm is definitely a direct impactor of that, because it clears the way for the Guard to move north,” Rice tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “As soon as they get their maintenance facilities up there that clears one of those red items.”
Red items designate in which areas Rosecrans falls short in the Guard Bureau grading scale. Red is deficient. Yellow is neutral. Green is positive.
Federal, state, county, and city money has been pouring into St. Joseph to upgrade Rosecrans, a 1950s era airport, and eliminate the “red” items on the Guard Bureau’s scorecard. Those red items cost the 139th in the initial allocation of the new, upgraded C-130 cargo planes, the “J” model planes which will replace the aging “H” model.
Deputy Commander of the 139th, Colonel Barrett Golden, says improvements had to be made to meet the Guard’s criteria to replace the 139th’s aging C-130 cargo planes with the latest version.
“They operate on a multitude of grading criteria and facilities are absolutely one of those criteria,” Golden tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
Construction of the $17 million air traffic control tower and the $8 million terminal are underway. That follows on the heels of constructing a new, substantial main runway.
The Missouri General Assembly included $7 ½ million in the state budget for the planning, design, and construction of an aircraft maintenance facility. Another $4 million has been allocated for a new fuel farm that will be used by both military and civilian aircraft.
Securing the C-130J model planes is seen as vital to the future of the 139th in St. Joseph.
“Try and prove that the Midwest is an excellent place to train and fight for the next potential future war,” Golden says. “The Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center is currently training 18 allied nations as we speak. And so, we continue to need to broadcast the amazing strategic level and tactical level training we do at this base and how important it is for the next potential fight.”
Golden says improvements don’t even have to be completed to impress the Guard and improve Rosecrans’ scoring. Rosecrans merely needs to show 35% completion of the design of improvements to satisfy the Guard’s criteria. The Guard Bureau is expected to re-evaluate Air Guard bases in October.
Congress has allocated enough money for eight new C-130J model planes for one Air Guard base.
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