Officials Brace for New Point Mugu Fight

Despite the Pentagon’s announcement Monday that a new round of base closures will look squarely at weapons testing centers, Ventura County leaders say they are well prepared to fend off any assault on Point Mugu Navy base.

The Navy’s plan to move four squadrons of E-2C Hawkeyes here, efforts to draw private projects and a regional alliance to protect West Coast installations should help save Point Mugu, officials said.

“The grapevine has told us for some time that China Lake and Point Mugu were in trouble,” said Supervisor John K. Flynn, chairman of the Ventura County Regional Defense Partnership lobbying group.

“But what kind of picked this up and turned this around was the E2s. We have [also] politically organized ourselves, so we’re much stronger” than during the last round of base closures.

In 1995, Point Mugu turned up on a list of bases considered for shutdown, but was spared when the Base Closure and Realignment Commission acknowledged that the base south of Oxnard has a unique sea-testing range.

Still, a new round of closures, proposed in a Pentagon report Monday, would focus on test and development facilities and compare what’s available among the various branches of the military.

That could affect both Point Mugu and its sister base, China Lake.

The Pentagon report comes at a time when officials at China Lake have begun studying the current and projected operating losses at both bases, as well as duplication of services and future business opportunities.

“I continue to be convinced the future of the Weapons Division is bright,” said Rear Adm. Jack V. Chenevey, commander of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, in a prepared statement. “There are many opportunities to attract new customers and . . . reshape the tools our war fighters will use in the 21st century. Before we can do that, we must reshape ourselves and develop a more efficient organization.”

In the past five years, the bases have experienced a 29% decline in overall revenue, and Navy officials noted that they expect even more reductions in the future, Chenevey said. He did not make any specific mention of cutbacks.

Flynn said he and others, who have been lobbying on behalf of Point Mugu since the Pentagon launched a study on consolidating weapons-test centers in November 1995, knew this next round of cutbacks was coming.

To decrease the possibility of Point Mugu being considered for the closure list, Flynn and others have been pushing hard to expand the role of private business at the base and bring in fleets of aircraft to the base.

In a significant victory earlier this month, top military brass announced that Point Mugu was chosen as the new home for 16 E-2C radar planes based at Miramar Naval Air Station.

The planes will bring with them 1,100 new jobs and could boost the local base’s viability, according to Navy officials. In addition, Navy officials held a public hearing to discuss the possibility of bringing in 92 F/A-18 strike fighters to the area within a year. At this time, however, Lemoore Naval Air Station in the Central Valley--not Point Mugu--is considered the front runner for receiving the planes.

In addition to the local lobbying group, five Western states including California have formed the Southwest Defense Alliance to increase their political muscle in Washington and counter East Coast influence and power.

Point Mugu, for instance, could face competition from its East Coast counterpart, Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

During the last round of base closures, Air Force officials lobbied unsuccessfully to move Point Mugu’s missile testing operations and its 9,000 jobs to Eglin in an effort to combine overlapping programs.

But Ventura officials argue that Point Mugu is important strategically since it is the only sea-testing range on the West Coast. Supervisor Flynn said Point Mugu has advantages over its East Coast competitors, specifically its relatively uncongested sea and air space.

“The Department of Defense, I think, would not want to give [that] up,” Flynn said.

U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) cautioned against jumping to conclusions about lab cutbacks.

“It’s not the time to say, ‘Henny-Penny the sky is falling,’ ” said Gallegly. “You can be sure there is going to be continued vigilance not only to protect Mugu but to prove to the powers that be how strategically important Mugu can be.”

Green is a Times correspondent and Munoz is a staff writer.

* MAIN STORY: The Pentagon calls for new rounds of military base closing and job reduction. A1