Funds will boost Tinker with two hangars, clinic
Military: Fort Sill, Reserve projects also will benefit from measure

BY CHRIS CASTEEL

Published: October 8, 2008

WASHINGTON — Tinker Air Force Base will get two aircraft hangars and a new medical clinic, and other Oklahoma military installations will get upgrades and additions, because of a spending bill signed recently by the president.

Continuing construction to accommodate the Air Defense Artillery School moving to Fort Sill from Texas is also funded, as are new Armed Forces Reserve centers in Muskogee and Broken Arrow.

In all, more than $350 million has been allocated for Oklahoma military construction projects over the next year. The money was included in a massive spending bill that funds defense and homeland security operations, military construction and veterans programs.

Nearly $50 million was approved for a 164,700-square-foot hangar at Tinker that will accommodate three aircraft for maintenance. Also, $10 million will be spent on a single-bay hangar for KC-135 aircraft assigned to the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard.

The new medical clinic will cost $65 million and have 156,000 square feet of medical space and nearly 19,000 square feet of dental space.

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the funding bill was "a major victory for Tinker Air Force Base and all of Oklahoma’s military installations.

"(It) fully funds key readiness programs to ensure our Air Force and Navy personnel at Tinker are fully trained and equipped for combat and peace-time operations. It fully funds flying hours of all the aircraft stationed at Tinker. ... Finally, this bill not only fully funds depot maintenance at Tinker but it also continues funding for the F-22 and F-35, whose engines will be maintained at Tinker.”

Major new construction at Fort Sill became necessary after the base closure commission voted in 2005 to relocate the Air Defense Artillery School and a related brigade from Fort Bliss, Texas. The moves may mean an additional 10,000 active-duty personnel, students and family members at the southwest Oklahoma post, which is already home to the Army Field Artillery School.

The new Armed Services Reserve Centers were also mandated by the base closure commission as part of a nationwide consolidation of Guard and Reserve training centers.

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