Hickam Air Force Base will get the first of eight C-17 Globemaster transport jets February 2006 and will be the first installation outside of the mainland.
Isles’ Stryker bill
up for voteBush's $339.7 million request for
Hawaii projects could get increased
Congress will vote this week on more than $246 million to continue the development of Schofield Barracks' new Stryker combat brigade and Hickam Air Force Base's C-17 jet transport unit.
Of the $339.7 million President Bush has requested for Hawaii military construction projects for fiscal year 2005, more than $221 million are for Stryker-related projects at Schofield Barracks and the Big Island's Pohakuloa Training Area.
An additional $25.9 million is set aside for various ongoing Air Force projects to prepare Hickam for eight C-17 Globemaster transport jets whose mission will be to deliver the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade anywhere in the world within 96 hours.
The latest Stryker appropriations include $27 million to begin upgrading Drum Road -- now a single-lane 23-mile dirt road connecting Wahiawa near Schofield Barracks to the Army's training grounds in Kahuku. With more than 480 new Stryker vehicles planned to be stationed here, the purpose of the $70 million road project is take military vehicles off Kamehameha Highway.
Also included is nearly $140 million for a new 26-lane pistol and rifle qualification range, a company-size live-fire range, vehicle wash facility and a 193,923 square foot motor pool at Schofield Barracks, $30 million to renovate Pohakuloa, and $24 million for a deployment facility at Wheeler Army Airfield.
More than $221 million has been allocated for Stryker-related projects at Schofield Barracks and the Big Island's Pohakuloa Training Area, including upgrades to roads and training sites.
More than $100 million has already been appropriated to convert the Tropic Lightning's 2nd Brigade to the Army's fifth Stryker unit when it returns from Iraq next year.More than 800 soldiers will be added to the 2nd Brigade which will be organized around the $2 million eight-wheeled, 19-ton Stryker vehicles. The rubber-tire Stryker vehicle comes in 10 variations and can carry up to 11 soldiers.
The Army expects the Schofield Barracks' 2nd Brigade to begin receiving the new soldiers in 2005 and the Strykers a year later. The Army plans to spend $693 million on 28 construction projects here and on the Big Island to accommodate the Strykers.
About $239 million will be spent to upgrade the 108,793-acre Pohakuloa Training Area to accommodate new Stryker combat vehicles. The existing runway at Bradshaw Airfield at PTA will be realigned and lengthened to 5,600 feet to handle C-17 cargo jets that carry the Strykers. Also, a rough former tank route from Kawaihae harbor through Parker Ranch would be upgraded and in some places paved.
The C-17s would be the first stationed outside of the mainland and assigned to a 500-member wing -- the first composed of active Air Force and Hawaii Air National Guard personnel. The Air Force is scouting locations for short narrow runways where pilots can practice takeoffs and landings. Among the sites considered are Kalaeloa Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe and the Kona Airport. Each C-17 will cost $236.7 million. The first C-17 will arrive in 2006.
However, the House and Senate have increased the Bush administration's request for military spending. This will mean that even if the $422 billion National Defense Authorization Act passes this week, the budget request will have to be sent to a congressional conference committee which won't finish ironing out differences between the two versions until this summer. The federal fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Senate's version of the military construction bill authorizes $365.7 million for military construction projects in Hawaii -- a $26 million increase over the president's request of $339.7 million.
On the House side, Rep. Neil Abercrombie, a member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, said he added $5.4 million for improvements to Pearl Harbor's drydock 4. That raised Hawaii military construction projects to $344 million.
The Navy said the Pearl Harbor project will include improvements to the electrical distribution system at the drydock, including the replacement of electrical circuit connections, and the construction of an emergency generation system for drydock equipment.
In the Senate version of the spending bill, Akaka and Sen. Daniel Inouye added $10 million to continue improvements to Saddle Road on the Big Island, $7.5 million for the Air Force optical space tracking facility at Haleakala on Maui, and $8.5 million for an electrical grid at Hickam.
Last year, the Congress authorized $309.5 million in new military projects for the islands.
Both the House and Senate versions of the military construction bill include $84 million to continue renovating living quarters for single enlisted soldiers at Schofield Barracks.
The Army has requested $36 million to renovate Schofield Barracks' Quad E and an additional $48 million for housing on Capron Avenue. The renovations are part of the $750 million Whole Barracks Renewal project, which began in 1992, where more than 4,300 barracks space for single enlisted soldiers under the rank of sergeant will be upgraded or constructed.
"This construction will help the military and it will help Hawaii," said Abercrombie.
"We're making a commitment to military personnel, their families, and the commands based in Hawaii. It reflects our determination to maintain an infrastructure that will support isle-based commands for decades to come."
