From the New York Times, well written and informative.
Exposed by Michael: Climate Threat to Warplanes at Coastal Bases
https://nyti.ms/2yM6Gt1
When Hurricane Michael wrecked much of Tyndall Air Force Base near
Panama City, Fla., last week, the storm exposed a significant military
in the skies, but they were all but defenseless on the ground, as the
powerful storm ripped apart hangars, flooded buildings and scattered
debris.
hit, but 17 of the aircraft had been grounded for maintenance and
could not be made airworthy in time. Those jets, worth about $5.8
damaged.
The Air Force played down the harm this week, saying that all the
aircraft could be repaired. But the military has more than a dozen air
bases right on the coast in storm-prone southern states, where
scientists predict that hurricanes will grow more intense and more
raises question about how well the bases are defended against the
elements.
Force and was a former deputy commander of the United States Strategic
risk in Hurricane Michael. The sophisticated jets are notoriously
temperamental, and at any given time, only about half the them are
mission-ready, according to a recent Air Force report. The storm
appeared and developed swiftly, giving maintenance crews only a few
the 17 F-22s left behind were put in hangars built to weather tropical
storms, the buildings were no match for a Category 4 monster whose
wind gauge.
Hurricanes have been pummeling air bases since the days when the
damage was measured in blimps. Hurricane Hugo ripped through Shaw Air
Force Base in South Carolina in 1989; Hurricane Andrew all but
destroyed Homestead Air Force Base near Miami in 1992; and flooding
from Hurricane Katrina caused nearly $1 billion in damage at Keesler
Air Force Base on the Mississippi coast. Naval air stations and other
bases have also suffered extensive flooding and other storm damage.
With more than a dozen Air Force, Navy and Marine airfields dotting
the coast from Texas to Virginia, military leaders know that another
disaster is only a matter of time, General Arlen said, but they may
run into trouble addressing the growing threat by name because of
Whatever words are used, there is no cheap or easy way to safeguard
aircraft from storms like Michael. Fleets of fighters cannot simply be
relocated permanently to inland bases, experts say, because vast,
empty training areas are needed where pilots can safely fire missiles
and shoot down target drones. Most of those areas are over the ocean.
evacuate what it could and rebuild the rest. But it is hard to shrug
off the cost of repairing or replacing storm-damaged weapons systems
when jet fighters cost $339 million apiece.
said Rear Adm. David W. Titley, retired, a former chief operating
officer of NOAA who now runs the Center for Solutions to Weather and
Repeated destructive hurricanes in the last 20 years have spurred the
forces, road maps and public assurances about actions it is taking
toward climate, but he said that little has actually changed.
Tyndall is now a blank slate that should be rebuilt to anticipate an
even worse storm, Admiral Titley said.
An Air Force spokeswoman, Ann Stefanek, said that these days, when
buildings are put up or renovated at bases along the coast, they are
designed to withstand storms and flooding. She said common-sense
precautions were also being taken, like relocating generators out of
floodable basements. But hardening coastal bases to cope with much
stronger winds and higher surges would be costly and probably take
years.
The Air Force has a base that can serve as a model: Andersen Air Force
Base, in Typhoon Alley on the Pacific island of Guam.
The base was destroyed by the ferocious winds of Typhoon Karen in
1962, which exceeded 175 miles an hour, and it has been hit by a
hangars have been hardened with steel and concrete to be exceptionally
storm-resistant; some are designed to withstand winds of 195 m.p.h.
Building that way is very pricey, even by Defense Department
standards. A storm-rated hangar now under construction at Andersen is
expected to cost $64 million. A larger hangar recently completed at
Naval Air Station Jacksonville recently cost $123 million, and it is
only rated to resist 120 m.p.h. winds. Such projects also take years
to design, bid and erect. In the meantime, irreplaceable stealth
fighters remain at risk.
Within hours after Hurricane Michael had moved on from Tyndall, the
Air Force had cleared a runway and begun flying in heavy equipment,
temporary tent housing and a mobile hospital to support rebuilding.
the storm at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, and have now
been temporarily reassigned to Langley Air Force Base outside Newport
News, Va.
Langley was chosen because other F-22s are based there, and equipment
and maintenance crews could be shared. But the base, on a flood-prone
coastal peninsula, is no safe haven. Most recently, Hurricane Isabel
caused $146 million in damage at the base. At least 13 grounded
stealth fighters rode out Isabel crammed into a single hangar that was
rated to withstand a Category 2 hurricane. The hangar held, but it may
not the next time.
who oversaw environmental policy for the Defense Department during the
Obama administration and now directs the Center for Climate and
A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 17, 2018, on Page
A19 of the New York edition with the headline: Bulwark of Coastal
Bases, Under Threat From More Menacing Storms.
--
- Gen, John F. Kelly (4 star, USMC, Ret.)
White House Chief of Staff speaking about President Trump
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