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Transcript/ScriptUS ALASKA AIRBASE STRATEGY
HEADLINE: With New F-35s, Remote Alaska Base Protects Most ‘Strategic Place in the World’
TEASER: Eielson’s 180 Degree Turn from Closure-Bound to Booming Combat Base
PUBLISHED: 6/21/2022, 4:09 pm
BYLINE: Carla Babb
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska
VIDEOGRAPHER: Mike Burke
VIDEO EDITOR: Mike Burke
SCRIPT EDITORS: newhouse, Sharon Shahid
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, DOD, Reuters
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 4:00
VID APPROVED BY: Holly Franko
TYPE: VPKGN
EDITOR NOTES:))
[[ANCHOR]]
((Russia’s war in Ukraine is now in its fourth month, and more U.S. troops have headed to Europe to defend NATO’s eastern flank. But the growing threat from Russia and China has the U.S. looking not only east, but also to the far north. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb took to the Arctic skies of Alaska for an exclusive look at the U.S. military’s multibillion-dollar transformation of the remote Eielson Air Force Base.))
((NARRATOR))
Soaring in an F-16...
...at the top of the world. Backseat with the U.S. Air Force …
over America’s last frontier, Alaska. At times flying faster than the speed of sound …
an F-35 — America’s newest stealth jet — beside us.
A sea of snow-covered peaks below. The tallest in North America, the majestic Denali, nearby.
My pilot, Major Lloyd Wright — call sign “Bond” — has navigated these skies for the last seven years.
((Maj. Lloyd “Bond” Wright, U.S. Air Force))
“I’ve flown a lot of places in the world and this is the best airspace in the entire planet. Absolutely a national treasure.”
((NARRATOR))
But American fighter jets aren’t here for the views.
((Carla Babb, VOA News))
“The military calls this strategic airspace. We’ve just arrived at the Arctic Circle. From here, fighter jets can reach anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere in a single flight.”
((Col. David “Ajax” Berkland, Eielson Air Force Base Commander))
“And it's hard to understand that, looking at a normal map that stretches Alaska out over the top of the map. But when you look at a globe// It becomes very apparent how close we are to really anything in the Northern Hemisphere.”
((NARRATOR))
Europe is just across the Arctic Ocean.
Mainland Alaska is less than 100 kilometers from Russia,
And Asia is just across the Pacific …
((Col. David “Ajax” Berkland, Eielson Air Force Base Commander))
“We are closer to the Indo-Pacific than they are sitting in Hawaii.”
((NARRATOR)) ((COURTESY Reuters video))
… with growing fears of Chinese and North Korean attacks.
((NARRATOR))
A few years ago, the Defense Department was looking to close most of Eielson.
((Seamus Daniels, CSIS))
“DOD argued that the cost to operate and maintain Eielson was expensive due to the environment, the climate, in Alaska. And ultimately, they proposed a major realignment.
((Sen. Dan Sullivan, Alaska))
“Airspace larger than Florida, right here in Alaska, right behind me, and all of that was on the chopping block.”
((NARRATOR))
Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan tells VOA the people of Fairbanks, the city closest to Eielson, pushed back.
((NARRATOR)) ((2005))
((COURTESY C-SPAN))
So did an independent commission set up to evaluate the Pentagon’s proposed base changes.
((Seamus Daniels, CSIS))
“Because they found that it wouldn't actually generate the original savings expected, //The commission also argued that Eielson was important as an air base because it has great air ranges and extensive complexes.”
((NARRATOR))
After downsizing, Eielson failed to take off. The Air Force did a 180, ((nat of accelerating in plane)) ordering its training squadron of F-16s to stay put, while deciding in 2016 to add not one, but two new squadrons of F-35s.
((Carla Babb, VOA News))
“Six years and 54 of these F-35s later, Eielson is a combat-ready base equipped to fight at a moment’s notice.”
((NARRATOR)) ((Courtesy DOD for first shot only))
These combat aircraft are worth about $5 billion, and the Pentagon has spent an additional $600 million building more runways, more hangars, more fuel tanks, more upgrades to accommodate the new jets and new people.
((Maj. Lloyd “Bond” Wright, U.S. Air Force))
“Case in point. It’s always busy here. There’s only ever about 20 minutes where there's not airplanes flying around right here.”
((NARRATOR))
The last two jets landed here in April. Just in time, Sullivan says...
((COURTESY DOD))
... to deter Russia’s power plays.
((Sen. Dan Sullivan, Alaska))
“They've been doing bear bomber [Tupolev Tu-95] missions//We've had to scramble more F-22s to go intercept those bombers, probably more than any other time since the mid 1980s. … So, they're aggressive here too, and the only thing that Putin understands, the only thing in my view that Xi Jinping understands, in this new era of authoritarian aggression is power.”
((NARRATOR))
The new F-35s at Eielson, combined with the F-22s at a base in the state capital, give Alaska more than 100 combat-ready 5th-generation fighters. That’s more stealth air power than anywhere else on the globe.
((Carla Babb, VOA News, Eielson AFB, Alaska))
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