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FORT HUACHUCA — Arizona leads the way in protecting an important electronic range, a senior Department of Defense official said Wednesday.
John B. Foulkes’ comment came during a ceremony in which Arizona’s governor signed a state law to protect the post facility, which Foulkes described as being critical to the nation’s defense.
Foulkes said the fort facility is the “world’s prominent outdoor electronic range,” and it can only be duplicated in Australia.
That the United States has such a pristine area means it does not have to depend solely on indoor facilities, which, while important, do not provide the best testing environment, said Foulkes, director of the Test Resource Management Center of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.
 Gov. Janet Napolitano signs state Senate Bill 1387 on Fort Huachuca Wednesday. Witnessing the signing are, from left, John Foulkes, director of the Test Resource Management Center Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, state Rep. Jennifer Burns, state Rep. Manny Alvarez and state Senate President Tim Bee. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review) |
When it comes to the Arizona bill, Foulkes said, “This is a tremendous opportunity and a model for other communities and states to follow.”
As Foulkes, Maj. Gen. John Custer, commander of the Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca, state Senate President Tim Bee and state Reps. Manny Alvarez and Jennifer Burns watched, Gov. Janet Napolitano ceremonially signed her name to Senate Bill 1387. Bee, who represents District 30, and Burns, who represents District 25, are Republicans, and Alvarez, who represents District 25, and the governor are Democrats.
Bee said the object of the bill that he introduced in the Senate “was to make sure Fort Huachuca had the national recognition it needs.”
Burns said working with other legislators included ensuring they knew the bill’s importance and how the state benefits.
“It was education,” Alvarez added.
Working with the fort, the delegation from Cochise County brought post systems and soldiers on the state Capitol grounds and have brought legislators to the fort to help them learn about its mission.
The bill passed the House and Senate with little opposition, Burns said.
The Fort Huachuca 50, a private organization that works to support the fort, also supported the bill.
The group’s president, Larry Portouw, said that since 1954, the fort has been where electronic testing has been an important mission.
Unlike ballistic ranges where weapons are fired, the type of shooting on the fort is down with invisible electrons, Portouw said.
Custer noted that in the western part of the fort, the electronic range has convoy routes that are used to test equipment that can counter improvised explosive devices in live situations instead of indoor laboratory settings.
It is important to be able to test in actual outdoor conditions, the general said. Such testing cannot be done elsewhere, he added.
The electronic range and a protected airspace consisting of nearly 950 square miles will never be duplicated elsewhere in the United States, Custer said.
The fort’s high-tech missions include the Intelligence Center, the Network Enterprise Technology Command, the Electronic Proving Ground, the Joint Interoperability Test Command and other units involved in testing and fielding equipment, all of which provide an important reality, he said.
Col. Jasey Briley, the Intelligence Center’s chief of staff, said, “Fort Huachuca has always been a high-tech platform.”
Noting the post likes to tout its history of going from sabers to satellites, Briley, who was the combination narrator/announcer/introducer for Wednesday’s event on Brown Parade Field, said the electronic range, coupled with the protected airspace, is an important defense environment.
Napolitano said the bill requires the Arizona Department of Real Estate to give notice that encroachment on the range is not in the best interest to the military or the state.
She noted that Arizona’s active-duty military installations, of which there are five, provide $9.3 billion to the state’s economy. Fort Huachuca provides $2.5 billion to the state’s economy.
The economic and other roles military installations play provide to the Arizona Air National Guard and active duty Air Force installations by having the airspace that can be used for flight training, the governor said.
“Fort Huachuca plays a critical role in national defense,” she said.
After signing the bill, Napolitano handed Custer, Foulkes, Bee, Burns and Alvarez each one of the ceremonial pens she used to complete her signature.
After the ceremony, the governor noted how pleased she was to stand outside of Custer’s family quarters on the post, the historic Pershing Quarters, constructed in the late 1880s, where before the home is the fort’s flagpole.
A bugle call signifying the duty day was about to end was then heard, followed by a cannon being fired as the national flag was slowly lowered to the bugle notes of “Retreat.” Custer later presented the governor the casing of the shell that was fired, along with a Buffalo Soldier statue, during a reception in the backyard of his home.
Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
