Air Force approves plan to expand bomber training airspace

The Air Force on Friday approved a plan that would quadruple the airspace to be used as a training area for pilots of B-1 and B-52 bombers.

The new space over Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas would be the largest training space over the continental U.S.

{mosads}The decision was made over the objections of lawmakers such as Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), who argue the overhead sonic booms will wreak havoc on rural communities and frighten livestock.

The proposal now goes to the Federal Aviation Administration, which will examine the expansion of the Powder River Training Complex (PRTC).

“The expanded training airspace … is critical to ensuring our airmen and women receive the training they need to protect and defend our nation abroad,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said in a statement. “The Air Force has made the safety and security of those living within this training airspace its highest priority.”

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) on Friday said the Air Force did not address concerns about low-level flights possibly interfering with commercial flights, including those associated with the oil industry.

Daines said he and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) would to introduce a bill to restrict Air Force training over the location of a proposed loading terminal for the Keystone XL oil pipeline in Baker, Mont.

B-1 bombers from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and B-52 bombers out of Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota would use the new zone.

Thune argued that the expansion would help Ellsworth avoid being shuttered under a future Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round.

The Air Force projects that, by expanding the airspace, it could save up to $23 million a year in fuel costs by scaling back the number of flights pilots will have to make to Utah and Nevada for training exercises.