North Dakota lawmakers are happy campers following the visit of Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, to Grand Forks AFB, N.D., on Tuesday and one day later the word that a site review team is on the way. According to a joint statement, Moseley told the lawmakers that he considers Grand Forks “a top candidate for a future tanker mission.” The base already will get an unmanned aerial vehicle mission, but Sen. Kent Conrad, Sen. Byron Dorgan, and Rep. Earl Pomeroy hoped for more. Dorgan said, “I had little doubt that General Moseley would be impressed by a firsthand look at Grand Forks.” Gen. Duncan McNabb, head of Air Mobility Command, notified the Congressional delegation Wednesday that he would send a five-person team to survey the base’s infrastructure from March 26 to March 30.
Aircraft readiness will suffer if Congress does not approve some $1.5 billion worth of spare parts the Air Force requested in its annual Unfunded Priorities List, sent to Capitol Hill last week, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said.