AURORA | Fighter jets from Buckley Air Force Base could be training over a new stretch of airspace above eastern Colorado and western Kansas.
The Colorado Air National Guard this month proposed tweaks to the training grounds over the rural stretch of plains the fighter jets currently use.
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Among the changes include a higher flight floor — up to 500 feet from 300 feet — and a larger area for the Guard to conduct training.
“The Colorado National Guard coordinated this proposal with our neighbors in Colorado and Kansas to achieve mutual benefit,” Adjutant General of Colorado Maj. Gen. Mike Edwards said in a statement. “This military operations area is a national airspace asset, and our military readiness depends on pilots being able to experience realistic, mission-oriented training before they’re put in harm’s way.”
Under the proposal, three Colorado counties — Cheyenne, Kiowa and Kit Carson — will be under the new airspace. Five Kansas counties — Greeley, Logan, Scott, Wallace and Wichita — will be under it.
According to a map of the area from the Guard, two cities, Eads and Chivington in Kiowa County, that weren’t under the old airspace will be under the new training area.
Some of the changes, including increases to the flight floor, are aimed at cutting back noise from training flights, according to the guard. At night, military aircraft will fly no lower than 1,000 feet above ground.
Within five nautical miles of the Cheyenne-Wells Airfield in eastern Colorado, jets won’t fly lower than 1,500 feet above ground. That’s the same distance they maintain under the current plan.
After consulting with Native American tribes, the Guard agreed to maintain a 5-nautical mile radius buffer around the center of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historical Site with a flight floor of 5,000 feet above ground level.
The Guard said the new training area is important because F-16C+ jets flying from Buckley need a regularly shaped airspace where they can use the “full capability of aircraft weapon systems to conduct realistic, mission-oriented training to meet military readiness requirements, prepare for deployments as an Air Expeditionary Force in support of ground troops in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, and train to effectively counter 21st-century threats.” The current space has an odd shape that forces aircraft to fly too close to the center. Along the training area’s western edge, for example, a narrow stretch gave aircraft little room to operate, funneling them back toward the middle of the training area where there is more room for straight-ahead flying. With its long edges, the Guard said the new space will provide more maneuverability.
John Spann, a spokesman for the Air Force at Buckley, said the airspace proposal won’t have any effect on the operations of the Air Force’s 460th Space Wing, the main tenant at Buckley.
More on the proposal can be found at https://www.140wg.ang.af.mil/
Reach reporter Brandon Johansson at 720-449-9040 or bjohansson@
aurorasentinel.com