ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE - Maintaining the partnership between the Ellsworth Task Force, the state's congressional delegation and the governor's office will be essential if the air base is to compete for a new wave of weapons systems being planned by the Air Force, Sen. Tim Johnson said Thursday.

Johnson, D-S.D., told reporters during a tour of the South Dakota Air & Space Museum that Ellsworth is one of four air bases in the country in contention for the New Generation Bomber, which will begin replacing B-1B Lancer bombers in 2018. The air base and its supporters must begin preparing for that immediately and also continue to find ways to expand and enhance the missions at Ellsworth to assure its future in the national defense system, Johnson said.

And the citizen task force that was formed in 1990 to fight efforts to close the base must continue its essential role in the improvement, expansion and preservation of Ellsworth, Johnson said.

"The task force remains important," he said. "There is a role to be played in seeking new missions for the base."

That role will last "forever," because budget realities and changing military needs will continue into the future, Johnson said.

Johnson has helped through his position as Chairman of the Military Construction-Veterans Appropriations Subcommittee, which provided $16.6 million for a Civil Engineer Administrative Facility in a spending bill passed last month.

The new financial servicing center at the base was another priority for the task force and the congressional delegation. The center has about 200 employees now but is projected to expand by another 500 to 600, Johnson said.

And earlier this week, the Air Force released a report on future weapons systems, one of which could be important to Ellsworth. The Air Force plans to replace B-1 bombers with the next-generation bomber beginning in 2018.

Ellsworth has a realistic chance in the competition to house the new bombers, although they will be "hard to come by," Johnson said.

Task force member Jim Mirehouse said he and other members understand the challenge. The organization began in 1990, when the based was first threatened with closure, and increased its involvement in 2005, when the base ended up on a closure list in the Defense Base Closure and Realignment process.

Working with Gov. Mike Rounds, Johnson, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., the task force helped get the base off the hit list. The new servicing center and other improvements strengthen the position of the base, but Mirehouse said there is plenty of work left to do.

"In order for us to be in this environment and what I see coming in the future, there needs to be a group doing this function," he said. "There are groups like this working for other bases across the country. There's just a necessity to be advocates and work for increased missions."

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com