Further Reading

Hill AFB, Utah
41°07'N 111°58'W

Hill Air Force Base is an Air Force Materiel Command base located in northern Utah. The base is home to many operational and support missions with the Ogden Air Logistics Center (OO-ALC) serving as the host organization. Hill AFB is responsible for worldwide logistics management for the nation's fleet of strategic intercontinental ballistic missiles, which includes the Minuteman and Peacekeeper missiles. The center provides worldwide engineering and logistics management for the F-16 Fighting Falcon. The base maintains F-16 and C-130 Hercules aircraft. More than 250 aircraft and 16,800 avionics and structural components are produced annually. The base overhauls and repairs landing gear, wheels and brakes; rocket motors; air munitions and guided bombs; photonics equipment; training devices; avionics; instruments; hydraulics; software and other aerospace related components.

SAC used a variety of Air Force bases for dispersal. The 456th Bombardment Wing at Beale AFB deployed Detachment 1 to Hill AFB, which was activated 01 January 1973 and discontinued 01 July 1975. A $2 million dollar alert facility large enough to accommodate seven aircraft was constructed. The first of four B-52s assigned there arrived on 28 December 1973.

Hill AFB is home to two premier fighter wings -- the 388th Fighter Wing and the 419th Fighter Wing (Air Force Reserve) operating at Hill.

The Utah Test and Training Range (50 miles west of the base on 2,675 square miles of land) is used by all military services to fly more than 22,000 training sorties and more than 1,000 test sorties annually. It is used for testing munitions and propellants up to the most powerful ICBM rocket motors and non-nuclear explosive components. It is the largest special use airspace over land within the United States.

Hill AFB is bordered by the colorful Wasatch Mountains on the east and overlooks the Great Salt Lake to the west. To the north of the base, the closest major city is Ogden. Founded in 1850 by Mormon pioneers, it has grown to a population of 64,000. Ogden is the major economic and cultural focus in the area. Neighboring Hill to the west are numerous small towns. Starting from the north and coming from Ogden are Riverdale (Walmart, Shopko, Home Depot), Roy (Harmon's grocery), Sunset (Smith's grocery), Clearfield, and Layton (Walmart, Shopko, Sam's, Kmart). There is no real division from one town to the next. Salt Lake City, approximately 35 miles further south, is the capitol of the state as well as its dominant economic, cultural, and entertainment center.

From just over 3,000 acres in 1939, Hill AFB has grown to encompass 6,698 acres in both Davis and Weber Counties, with management of an additional 962,076 acres throughout Northern Utah. Hill AFB is the one of the state's leading employers.

OO-ALC is located in the population center of Utah, about 30 miles north of Salt Lake City, Utah, via Interstate Highway 15, 15 miles south of Ogden and is 4,800 feet above sea level. OO-ALC has a total of 961,325 acres, 1,488 buildings, 12,247,731 SF of space. Facility value $1,518.M. Plant equipment value is $471.8M. Hill AFB has 6,698 acres, 1,326 buildings of which 239 are industrial with 4.0M SF. Utah Training Test Range has 953,887 acres, 117 buildings of which 56 are industrial with 181,876 SF. Survivability & Vulnerability Test Center has 740 acres, 17 buildings of which four are industrial with 2,075 SF.

The history of the base plays an important part in the annals of the US Air Force. Hill Air Force Base has enjoyed a long and colorful history. The base traces its beginning to 1931. Successful operation of a temporary Air Corps depot in Salt Lake City to support the ill-fated Army Air Mail "experiment" focused attention of top level officials in this area as a possible site for a permanent depot. In the years that followed, the Army Air Corps searched the region for an ideal location for its permanent western terminus. Several sites in Utah were considered, with the present site near Ogden emerging as the clear favorite. As a result, in July 1934, the Air Corps Materiel Division, now Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command, recommended that a depot be located in this area.

In August 1935 Congress passed the Wilcox-Wilson Bill (Public Law 26), which provided for the addition of new permanent Air Corps stations and depots. A supplemental Military Appropriation Act of 1 July 1939 authorized $8M for the Ogden Air Depot.

In July 1939 Congress appropriated $8 million for the establishment and construction of the Ogden Air Depot. On 01 December 1939 the War Department named the site "Hill Field," in honor of Major Ployer Peter Hill, Chief of the Flying Branch of the Air Corps Material Division at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. Major Hill had died as a result of injuries received from the crash of the Boeing experimental aircraft Model 299 at Wright Field, the prototype of what would later become the famous B-17 Flying Fortress long-range heavy bomber. The crash took place in 1935, shortly after President Franklin Roosevelt had signed the Wilcox Bill into law, which first spelled out the need for a permanent Rocky Mountain Air Depot. A monument to Major Hill stands near the South Gate visitor center and an exhibit honors him at the Hill Aerospace Museum. Hill Field was renamed Hill Air Force Base on 5 February 1948.

The official groundbreaking ceremonies for Hill Field were held on 12 January 1940, although actual construction of the base had already begun. Construction was well under way when Colonel Morris Berman arrived on 7 November 1940, thus activating the base and becoming the Ogden Air Depot's first commanding officer. In January 1941 the first civilian employee, the first enlisted man, and the second officer to take charge of supply operations arrived at Hill. From this humble beginning, depot strength grew to a World War II peak of 15,780 civilians and about 6,000 military personnel.

Four 7,500-foot runways were completed by 1 September 1941, and maintenance began on several A-20s and Lockheed Hudsons at the same time. The B-24, the first major workload for the base, entered a production line on 14 February 1943, and by 6 July 1943, maintenance had reached its goal of completing one bomber per day.

During World War II Hill Field was a vital maintenance and supply base, with round-the-clock operations geared to supporting the war effort. Battle weary A-26, B-17, B-24, B-29, P-40, P-47, P-61, and many other types of aircraft depended on the men and women of Hill Field for structural repair, engine overhaul, and spare parts. Peak wartime employment at Hill was reached in 1943 with a total of over 22,000 military and civilian personnel. These dedicated men and women rehabilitated and returned thousands of warbirds to combat.

In 1944 Hill Field became responsible for the long-term storage of surplus aircraft and support equipment. PT-17, B-24, P-40, P-47, B-29, and many other types of aircraft were eventually prepared and stored at the base. By the end of 1947 more than $200 million worth of aircraft had been preserved in near perfect condition for possible future use. During the massive demobilization that followed World War II, Hill Field also reclaimed scores of surplus aircraft, which were disassembled and some parts put back into the supply system.

On 26 September 1947 the Army Air Corps became the United States Air Force, ending an association with the Army that had lasted 40 years. Following an Air Force-wide pattern of renaming "fields" as "bases," Hill Field became Hill Air Force Base on 5 February 1948.

When North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, Hill AFB was assigned a major share of Project Holdoff, the Air Materiel Command's logistical effort to support the war. Hill personnel quickly removed needed B-26s and B-29s from storage, renovated, and added them to the active Air Force inventory.

Ogden Air Logistics Center (OO-ALC)

The Ogden Air Logistics Center (ALC) is the host unit and largest organization at Hill AFB. Its workforce is recognized as experts in repair of the nation's intercontinental ballistic missiles; aircraft landing gear, wheels and brakes; munitions, aircraft software and information processing.

The Ogden ALC missions include first, to provide worldwide engineering and logistics management for the F-16 "Fighting Falcon," the nation's largest fleet of fighter aircraft. Second,to maintain the F-16 and C-130 "Hercules". Third, is responsible for worldwide logistics management and maintenance for the nation's fleet of intercontinental ballistic missiles, including the Minuteman and Peacekeeper. Fourth, to overhaul and repair landing gear, brakes, struts and wheels for Air Force aircraft (70 percent of DOD's landing gear repair efforts) and all photographic and reconnaissance equipment. Finally, Ogden ALC is the leading provider of rocket motors, small missiles, air munitions and guided bombs, photonics imaging and reconnaissance equipment, simulators and training devices, avionics, hydraulics and pneudraulics instruments and software.

The Strategic Missile Integration Complex at Hill AFB has three ICBM silos, complete in every way, but containing only inert missiles: two rigged for Minuteman IIIs and one for a Peacekeeper. Each is connected to an above-ground launch console to simulate alert status. There the guidance system is hooked to a Rapid Execution and Combat Targeting console to go through missile launch simulations. Actual missile crews conduct these tests.

The world's largest computed tomography facility, located at Ogden ALC, provides nondestructive inspection through X-rays of small and large missile components up to 29 feet by 8 feet; this is the only facility in existence capable of accommodating Peacekeeper ICBM motors.

The Little Mountain Survivability and Vulnerability Integration Center is part of the Air Materiel Command's sprawling Ogden Air Logistics Center. It accomplishes simulation testing of nuclear hardness, survivability, reliability and electromagnetic interference and compatibility. It simulates six environments: nuclear radiation, airblast, shock and vibration, in-flight vibration, electromagnetic pulse and electromagnetic interference and compatibility. The Survivability and Vulnerability Integration Center is located at Little Mountain, 24 miles northwest of Hill AFB. The cluster complex at Little Mountain is on a point overlooking the Great Salt Lake. There are no close neighbors for the 70 civilians who work there. Little Mountain is government-owned, but managed overall through a contract awarded to TRW.

On June 4, 1957, Air Materiel Command reorganized program management responsibilities for its subordinate commands. The reorganization transferred from Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area a very high profile program: the IM-99 BOMARC. Ogden was assigned in 1956 as the prime maintenance and supply depot for Marquardt Aircraft Company products that were to be locally manufactured. The selection of Ogden as BOMARC manager was logical, therefore, as this air defense missile used Marquardt-produced ramjets.

Located on the outskirts of Ogden, the ramjet plant was dedicated on June 3, 1957. Two months later, construction began at a site 15 miles west of Ogden at Little Mountain on the Air Force-Marquardt Jet Laboratory. Dedicated on October 5, 1959, the $14 million Air Force-owned facility initially employed 175 Marquardt personnel to test RJ-43 engines at simulated altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. This facility was used long after final BOMARC production. In 1970, Little Mountain was selected to house highly specialized Minuteman testing equipment, including a 15 million electron volt X-ray machine, a cutting machine for solid propellants, and nuclear environment simulators. Additional evaluation facilities at Little Mountain were built in the 1980s to test the "small" ICBM and new Peacekeeper missiles.

With the Boeing-produced BOMARC entering the Air Defense Command inventory, Ogden began receiving missiles for maintenance work. To support BOMARC, Ogden dedicated 26 buildings along with scores of special testing structures. Building 1915 in zone 19 in the west area received an extensive refit to accommodate ramjet overhaul work.

During Fiscal Year 1980 Hill AFB had the busiest single runway of any airfield in the free world. Airfield traffic totaled 145,243 takeoffs and landings. The OOALC Directorate of Distribution then managed an inventory valued at $2,039,195,215. The base was also assigned repair projects for the OV-10A Bronco and C-130 Hercules aircraft.

In August 1990 OOALC and Hill began support of Operation Desert Shield by helping to sustain the U.S. deployment to Southwest Asia. All shifts and work hours were extended to support the various aircraft involved in the mission. The 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, a Hill tenant, also deployed its 4th and 421st Tactical Fighter Squadrons to Southwest Asia. When Desert Shield became Desert Storm in 1991 Hill AFB personnel at home and abroad continued to support the mission in Southwest Asia. In 1993 Hill was awarded contracts for the modification, corrosion control, and painting of 244 Navy F/A-18 Hornet fighters and the maintenance and repair of landing gear on various USAF, DoD, and allied aircraft.

From modest beginnings, Hill AFB now ranks as Utah's largest employer. The $500 million payroll and presence of the installation injects tremendous growth into the Utah economy. The current value of the base acreage, buildings, equipment, and inventories exceeds $4.5 billion.

BRAC 2005

Secretary of Defense Recommendations: In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations, DoD recommended to close Cannon Air Force Base, NM. As a result, it would distribute the 27th Fighter Wing's F- 16s to 388th Wing at Hill AFB (six aircraft) and several other installations.

In another Recommendation, DoD recommended to realign Hill AFB. It would distribute the 419th Fighter Wing F-16s to the 482d Fighter Wing, Homestead Air Reserve Base, FL (six aircraft) and the 301st Fighter Wing, NAS JRB Fort Worth, TX (nine aircraft). The AFMC F-16s at Hill would remain in place.

DoD also Recommended to realign Edwards AFB, CA, Mountain Home AFB, ID; and Luke AFB, AZ, by relocating base-level LANTIRN intermediate maintenance to Hill, establishing a Centralized Intermediate Repair Facility (CIRF) for Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) pods at Hill. In the same recommendation, DoD recommended to realign NAS JRB Fort Worth, TX, and Nellis AFB, NV, by relocating base-level F110 engine intermediate maintenance to Hill, establishing a CIRF for F110 engines at Hill.

DoD recommended to realign Hill AFB, UT, as follows: relocate the supply contracting function for tires to the Inventory Control Point at Defense Supply Center Columbus, OH; disestablish all other supply functions for tires; and disestablish the storage, and distribution functions for tires, packaged petroleum, oils, and lubricants, and compressed gases.

Another Recommendation would realign Hill AFB by relocating Weapons and Armaments In-Service Engineering Research, Development & Acquisition, and Test and Evaluation to Eglin AFB, FL.

In another recommendation, DoD would realign Hill AFB and two other installations by relocating fixed wing related Air Platform Development and Acquisition to Wright Patterson AFB, OH.

Secretary of Defense Justifications: DoD made this first recommendation because Hill (14) had a higher military value ranking than did Cannon (50).

This laydown (third recommendation) would keep the active/Air National Guard/ Air Force Reserve force structure mix constant. Creating CIRFs for LANTIRN pods and F110 engines would establish Hill as a maintenance workload center for these commodities. This recommendation would compliment other CIRF recommendations as part of an Air Force effort to standardize stateside and deployed intermediate-level maintenance concepts, and would increase maintenance productivity and support to the warfighter. Assuming no economic recovery, this recommendation could result in a maximum potential reduction of 245 jobs (121 direct jobs and 124 indirect jobs) over the 2006-2011 period in the Ogden-Clearfield, UT, Metropolitan Statistical economic area (less than 0.1 percent).

This fourth recommendation would achieve economies and efficiencies that would enhance the effectiveness of logistics support to forces as they transition to more joint and expeditionary operations. This recommendation would disestablish the wholesale supply, storage, and distribution functions for all tires; packaged petroleum, oils and lubricants; and compressed gases used by the Department of Defense, retaining only the supply contracting function for each commodity. The Department would privatize these functions and would rely on private industry for the performance of supply, storage, and distribution of these commodities. By doing so, the Department could divest itself of inventories and eliminate infrastructure and personnel associated with these functions. This recommendation would result in more responsive supply support to user organizations and would thus add to capabilities of the future force. The recommendation would provide improved support during mobilization and deployment, and the sustainment of forces when deployed worldwide. Privatization would enable the Department to take advantage of the latest technologies, expertise, and business practices, which translates to improved support to customers at less cost. It centralizes management of tires; packaged petroleum, oils, and lubricants; and compressed gases and eliminates unnecessary duplication of functions within the Department.

Eglin was one of three core integrated weapons and armaments RDAT&E centers (with China Lake, CA, and Redstone Arsenal, AL) with high MV and the largest concentration of integrated technical facilities across all three functional areas. Eglin AFB had a full spectrum array of Weapons & Armaments (W&A) Research, Development & Acquisition, and Test & Evaluation (RDAT&E) capabilities. Accordingly, relocation of Hill AFB and DTRA NCR W&A capabilities would further complement and strengthen Eglin as a full spectrum W&A RDAT&E Center. The overall impact of this recommendation would be to: increase W&A life cycle and mission related synergies/integration; increase efficiency; reduce operational costs; retain the required diversity of test environments; and facilitate multiple uses of equipment, facilities, ranges, and people. Hill AFB had lower quantitative MV than Eglin AFB in all functional areas. This recommendation included Research, D&A, and T&E conventional armament capabilities in the Air Force and DTRA NCR. It would consolidate armament activities within the Air Force and promotes jointness with DTRA NCR. It would also enable technical synergy, and position the DoD to exploit center-of-mass scientific, technical, and acquisition expertise within the RDAT&E community that currently resides as DoD specialty locations. This recommendation would directly support the Department's strategy for transformation by moving and consolidating smaller W&A efforts into high military value integrated centers, and by leveraging synergy among RD&A, and T&E activities. Capacity and military value data established that Eglin AFB was already a full-service, integrated W&A RDAT&E center. Relocation of W&A D&A In-Service Engineering (ISE) from Hill AFB to Eglin AFB would increase life cycle synergy and integration. ISE encompassed those engineering activities that provide for an "increase in capability" of a system/sub-system/component after Full Operational Capability has been declared. ISE activities would mesh directly with on-going RDAT&E at Eglin AFB. Assuming no economic recovery, this recommendation could result in a maximum potential reduction of 64 jobs (33 direct jobs and 31 indirect jobs) over the 2006-2011 period in the Ogden-Clearfield, UT, Metropolitan Statistical Area (less than 0.1 percent).

This sixth recommendation would complete the consolidation of all Fixed Wing Air Platform RDAT&E, begun during the previous BRAC rounds, at two principal sites: Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River, MD, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB), OH, while retaining several specialty sites. Research and Development & Acquisition would be performed at NAS Patuxent River and Wright-Patterson AFB. This recommendation included Research, Development & Acquisition and Test & Evaluation activities in Fixed Wing Air Platforms across the Navy and Air Force. The planned component moves would enhance synergy by consolidating to major sites, preserve healthy competition, leverage existing infrastructure, minimize environmental impact, and effect reasonable homeland security risk dispersal. The relocation of Fixed Wing Air Platform Research was previously accomplished in response to the S&T Reliance Agreements resulting in the consolidation at Wright Patterson AFB with the maritime related Fixed Wing Air Platform Research consolidated at NAS Patuxent River. This recommendation would consolidate Air Force Development & Acquisition functions currently resident at Logistic Centers (Hill AFB, Tinker AFB, and Robbins AFB) at Wright-Patterson AFB. These moves would increase efficiency by creating RD&A centers with all attendant support activity and a robust acquisition organization available to all Air Force Fixed Wing Air Platform D&A functions. Assuming no economic recovery, this recommendation could result in a maximum potential reduction of 43 jobs (22 direct jobs and 21 indirect jobs) over the 2006-2011 period in the Ogden-Clearfield, UT, Metropolitan Statistical Area (less than 0.1 percent).

Community Concerns: Community representatives claimed the civilian personnel office (CPO) recommendation, if approved, will have a negative impact on Hill's mission because the CPO plays a significant role in providing essential services to the base's leadership and the large (10,000+) civilian workforce. They also noted that the DoD proposal, unlike other CPO consolidations, would not leave behind a minimum number of personnel specialists to service the base.

The community also argued that moving all of Hill's Munitions Containment Group engineering positions to the Air Armament Center, Elgin AFB without also transferring the Munitions Sustainment mission leaves Hill without the technical expertise necessary to support the Air Force.

In addition, advocates opposed DoD's proposed movement of Inventory Control Pont Functions for F-16 Depot Level Reparable (DLR) to the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), noting that Hill is the F-16 Center of Excellence responsible for cradle-to-grave management of F-16s. Moving a key function such as DLR management could have an adverse mission impact. Last, the Hill community strongly supported DoD's recommendation to bed down six "block 40" F-16 aircraft at the base.

Commission Findings: The Commission found that the realignment was consistent with the Air Force goals of creating larger more efficient fighter aircraft squadrons and improving intermediate level maintenance processes. The Commission found that Hill Air Force Base had capacity and conditions for current and future flying missions. The Commission also found that the Secretary of Defense's overall intent and concept of realigning F-16 aircraft out of Hill Air Force Base was supportable. The Commission supported the recommendation to establish Hill as a Centralized Intermediate Repair Facility for Low Attitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night pods and for F-110 Engines. The Commission established an F-16 wing at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida and the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas. This recommendation is consistent with the Commission's Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Laydown Plan.

Commission Recommendations: The Commission found that the Secretary of Defense deviated substantially from final selection criteria 1, 3, 4 and 5, as well as from the Force Structure Plan. Therefore, the Commission recommends the following:

Realign Hill Air Force Base, UT. Distribute the 15 F-16 aircraft assigned to the 419th Fighter Wing (ANG) to meet the Primary Aircraft Authorizations (PAA) requirements established by the Base Closure and Realignment recommendations of the Secretary of Defense, as amended by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission;

Establish 24 PAA F-16 aircraft at the 482nd Fighter Wing, Homestead Air Reserve Base, FL.

Establish 24 PAA F-16 aircraft at the 301st Fighter Wing, Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, TX.

The AFMC F-16s will remain in place at Hill AFB.

Realign Edwards Air Force Base, CA; Mountain Home Air Force Base, ID; and Luke Air Force Base, AZ, by relocating baselevel LANTIRN intermediate maintenance to Hill, establishing a Centralized Intermediate Repair Facility (CIRF) for Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) pods at Hill AFB.

Realign Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, TX, and Nellis Air Force Base, NV, by relocating base-level F110 engine intermediate maintenance to Hill, establishing a CIRF for F110 engines at Hill.

The Commission found that this change and the recommendation as amended are consistent with the final selection criteria and the Force Structure Plan. The full text of this and all Commission recommendations can be found in Appendix Q.

Regarding the realignment of the 388th Wing at Hill Air Force Base, UT (six aircraft), and backup inventory (29 aircraft) to Hill AFB from Cannon AFB, the Commission has decided to realign Cannon Air Force Base, NM by disestablishing the 27th Fighter Wing and distributing its aircraft to meet the primary Aircraft Authorization (PAA) requirements established by the Base Closure and Realignment recommendations of the Secretary of Defense, as amended by the Base Closure and Realignment Commission. After disestablishing the 27th Fighter Wing, the Air Force shall establish an enclave at Cannon Air Force Base that shall remain open until December 31, 2009 during which time the Secretary of Defense shall seek other newly-identified missions with all military services for possible assignment to Cannon Air Force Base, NM. If the Secretary designates a mission for Cannon Air Force Base during this period, the enclave would revert to the status appropriate for the designated mission. If the Secretary does not find a mission for Cannon Air Force Base by December 31, 2009, Cannon Air Force Base and the enclave shall be closed. Nothing in this directive shall prohibit the State of New Mexico and the Department of Defense from entering into an agreement to close the enclave at Cannon Air Force Base earlier than December 31, 2009.