Some air defenders still at Fort Bliss

May 26, 2009

FORT BLISS - Although the Army's air defense artillery command is moving to Fort Sill, Okla., a substantial air defense presence will remain at this post for the foreseeable future.
Staying at Fort Bliss as the Air Defense Center and School leaves are the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade and the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command.

"We certainly don't want to minimize the significance of that Army decision" to move the air defense command, said Col. Joe DeAntona, commander of the 11th ADA, which is the largest air defense brigade in the nation. "But when you drive along Airport Road, you'll still see the Patriot missiles in the upright position."

The 11th ADA accounts for about 3,800 soldiers, close to a quarter of all U.S. air defenders.

And those soldiers - about 60 percent of whom are married - represent some 6,800 additional family members, DeAntona said.

Patriot missile soldiers have fought in every major conflict since the 1990 Gulf War, he said.

"That's who El Paso knows as the air defenders," DeAntona said. "Those kids are all still here."

The demands of the job mean that not all of those air defenders are in El Paso at any one time.

Currently about 1,700 of the brigade's soldiers are deployed, DeAntona said, mostly in Korea, Japan and the Middle East.

When deployment cycles begin to slow down - partly related to an increase in the number of soldiers in the Army, which includes air defense - the number deployed at any time is expected to fall back to about 700, he added.
The 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command is a senior tactical command with about 200 soldiers.

It is responsible for air defense units in the continental United States, including the 11th ADA, and deploys air and missile defense forces for combat commanders in the U.S. Central Command area of operations, which includes the Middle East and Central Asia.

One reason the 11th ADA is so large is that it is responsible for testing new equipment and improvements on current equipment, DeAntona said.

"We have four Patriot battalions and one is always in a test mission," he said.

The 11th ADA also is home to the first Theater High Altitude Area Defense battery, better known as THAAD.

Although the THAAD system faced early setbacks, the system was redesigned and the first unit was created at Fort Bliss last year. The second is set to form in the fall, also at Fort Bliss.

Because the system is so new, there are no Army manuals detailing maintenance or how to use it, said Capt. Neal Lape, THAAD battery commander.

"We literally are writing the book right now," Lape said.

He added that the weapon extends range and altitude for U.S. air defense. "We can engage things in space. It's ridiculous," he said.

Now the battery is developing tactics and techniques for "shooting, moving and communicating," Lape said.

"Once THAAD becomes a fully deployable weapons system, (THAAD soldiers) will get their training at Fort Sill," he said.

DeAntona said there are good reasons besides the vast training ranges to leave the 11th ADA at Fort Bliss.

Biggs Army Airfield has a railhead, which allows the movement of large pieces of equipment, and a runway, which can handle the Army's largest aircraft.

"We've got to be able to strategically deploy those units in a short time," DeAntona said.

The deployment facility "is one of the best in the United States."

From the El Paso Times

Conducting live fire will not happen here at Sill because we don't have near the training area as Bliss, White Sands and Mcgreager Range.

I made that point in another thread Chief. If you can't fully accommodate the needs of a branch why would you move it? Now as a veteran I'm am on the outside looking in, but that is my first question.