Flynn Doubts New Jets Will Be Based at Point Mugu

Point Mugu Navy base’s chances of receiving a contingent of new Navy jet fighters are very slim, and any controversy the proposal engenders could actually threaten a more viable proposal to bring radar planes to the base, Supervisor John Flynn said Wednesday.

Flynn, who has worked closely with Navy officials to secure additional military operations at Point Mugu, said he thought the Navy only named the base as one of three possible sites for the jet fighters to satisfy its environmental review requirements.

In addition to Point Mugu, Lemoore Naval Air Station near Fresno and El Centro Naval Air Field near San Diego are being considered for the new strike fighters, which are still on the production line.

Officials first learned about Point Mugu’s consideration when notices were circulated Monday for a public hearing on the proposal scheduled later this month in Camarillo.

But Flynn said reliable sources had told him that the 92 new F/A-18 E&F; Hornet aircraft and 1,500 related jobs would most likely go to Lemoore because older models of the jet fighter already fly out of that base.

“I think it would be wrong to get too worked up over this,” Flynn said. “I don’t think there is any serious thought about locating those four squadrons at Point Mugu. A facility like Lemoore is more suited for it. They already have those planes up there.”

In fact, Flynn said he feared that the scheduled April 30 hearing could hurt Point Mugu’s chances of recruiting 16 Navy radar planes and of having 1,100 related personnel transferred from Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego.

Local officials have been lobbying for the past year to bring the four squadrons of E-2C Hawkeye aircraft to Point Mugu. The planes travel with aircraft carrier battle groups to provide air traffic control assistance.

A preliminary recommendation suggests sending the Hawkeyes to Lemoore, and a final decision is expected in the next two to three weeks, officials said. Point Mugu is still in the running, officials say.

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“I think we stand a pretty good chance of getting the E-2 wing provided that there is not a lot of anti-Navy feeling there,” Flynn said. “If anything kills it, that will be it.”

Flynn was referring to protests raised by some Silver Strand Beach residents last year that prompted the Navy to cancel its plans for a new flight test program. The plan called for Lear jets to fly at low altitudes over the beach area, but was dropped after residents complained about noise and safety problems.

“I don’t believe there is a lot of anti-Navy feeling out there,” Flynn said. “It’s just a few folks at Silver Strand Beach. And yet they’ve managed to get the attention of people at Point Mugu and their superiors in Washington.”

Flynn said the E-2 radar aircraft are “very quiet airplanes and would fit into the community very well.”

Silver Strand resident Lee Quaintance, who was among the homeowners who protested Point Mugu’s new flight test last year, said every Navy proposal must be given a full environmental review, regardless of what local politicians want. He said homeowners are concerned about increased noise and air pollution that could result from new operations at the base.

“I agree with Mr. Flynn that there is not a large anti-Navy feeling here,” he said. “But there is a need for accountability. There are no free passes.”

Despite Flynn’s earlier comments, Quaintance said Silver Strand residents take seriously the Navy’s plan to consider Point Mugu as the home base for a new contingent of jet fighters.

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“No proposal should be ignored,” he said.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), who also has been talking with Navy officials about relocating other operations to Point Mugu, said he was pleased to learn that the base is at least being considered for the F/A-18s.

“We have been very aggressively promoting Mugu to the Navy,” he said. “This is the kind of thing we want to be part of.”

But Gallegly agreed with Flynn that “we have to be out there in the forefront reminding the [Navy] that they are welcomed in our district, that the neighborhoods do want them there.”

Gallegly said that the decision of where to locate the F/A-18s will depend largely on what makes the best economic sense to the Navy. For example, he said, they will have to take into consideration hangar and maintenance facilities, housing for personnel and existing flight operations.

The congressman said he continues to lobby the Navy about relocating the E-2C Hawkeye aircraft to Point Mugu. Military officials recommended last November that the planes be located at Lemoore.

But Gallegly said Point Mugu has two major advantages over Lemoore: the facts that it is right on the ocean and that it already has adequate hangar facilities to accommodate new aircraft.

By comparison, Gallegly said, Lemoore is 200 miles inland and would have to spend $32 million to construct hangars and make other improvements. Moreover, he said, operating costs at Lemoore would be as much as $3 million more a year because of the distance that planes would have to fly to reach the sea, where they perform many of their tests.

“Operating next to the ocean is a real plus,” he said. “No one will refute that.”

Meanwhile, the April 30 hearing on Point Mugu’s consideration as the home for the new F/A-18s will be held at 7 p.m. at the Orchid Building, 816 Camarillo Springs Road in Camarillo.