Leadership insists Air Force is committed to Cannon Air Force Base long-term

Aug. 28—Air Force leadership at Cannon Air Force Base last week said the Air Force will remain committed to the base outside of Clovis despite a recent announcement that hundreds of service members and several large aircraft are being reassigned to a different base.

The commitments were made by Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind and Dr. Ravi Chaudhary, assistant secretary of the Air Force for energy, installations and environment. Air Force officials visited the base with New Mexico Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján.

Heinrich said recent announcements about Air Force reorganization plans caused some alarm in eastern New Mexico. About 350 service members and seven MC-130J planes of the 6th Special Operations Squadron will be relocated in coming years to Arizona.

But Air Force officials last week praised aspects of Cannon, which is home to the 27th Special Operations Force Support Squadron.

"Cannon is our best location for building readiness for the future," Bauernfeind said in a news release. "Because of the crown jewel that is Melrose Range and because of the training that we can get out of these high altitudes, because of these amazing mountains that we can navigate around as you're flying low level, we can prepare our Air Commandos for the tough missions."

The University of New Mexico's Bureau of Business and Economic Research found Cannon and the nearby Melrose Air Force Range in the 2020 fiscal year contributed an estimated 6,413 jobs, over $400 million in wages and salaries and $2 billion in total industrial output.

Chaudhary wrote a letter to Heinrich last week that said Cannon continues to be a key Air Force base. He pointed out that the base currently has more than 6,500 people assigned to it, up from 3,950 in 2005.

"I'm glad to share that while there are planned reductions of personnel, the Air Force will maintain a significant presence at Cannon AFB," Chaudhary wrote.

Heinrich and Luján told media in Clovis last week it is positive that Air Force leadership met with officials on base and in the Clovis community to address some of their concerns.

"Sen. Luján and I have put hundreds of millions of dollars of military construction funds to work over the years, so this base will always have a future," Heinrich said. "And we heard that future articulated well."