Mr. EAGLES. Yes, sir.

We are going to unify and have one type of fuel eventually there. We will save maintenance costs and the different types of equipment we have to stock. On the conservation basis, the future is for building future savings and they are going to grow. That is what is anticipated.

Mr. SHEPPARD. Is it contemplated that when the changeover takes place, it will be as unified and it will be gas?

Mr. EAGLES. Yes, sir.

Mr. SHEPPARD. There is no proposal by direction or indirection that you are going to substitute gas for electricity?

Mr. EAGLES. No, sir. We do not anticipate that at all because this is not the major type of fuel in that area.

Mr. SHEPPARD. If there are no further questions upon this item, we will proceed with the next item.

SANDIA BASE, N. MEX.

Mr. SHEPPARD. We shall proceed with the next item having to do with Sandia Base, N. Mex.

We shall insert page 344 in the record at this point.

(The matter requested may be found on following page.) (The following information was supplied for the record:)

The two items we are requesting for this installation are covered on pages 345 through 347 of the justification books.

The first item, "Communication facilities," for $1,333,000, consists of construction required for remote radio transmitter and receiver facilities in the vicinity of Sandia Base, N. Mex. Details of this requirement should be discussed

in executive session, Mr. Chairman.

The design of this project has not been started; however, the Albuquerque district engineer has been chosen as the architect-engineer. The cost to date is $9,900.

The second item is for an NCO open mess at $411,000.

The existing noncommissioned officers' open mess was erected in 1943 from salvaged CCC-type building panels which were integrated into a temporary building. The building is one story, of wood frame construction resting on a concrete foundation and concrete piles. The interior is finished with wallboard and the flooring is wood. The existing structure has required continued heavy cost maintenance and even with this has now deteriorated to a point where it can no longer be reasonably maintained except by a major rehabilitation which would result in a cost out of all proportions to the value of the building. In addition, future annual maintenance would be excessive. Further, a building of this type poses a serious potential fire hazard as the open-roof framing and wood and wallboard construction is conducive to rapid progress of fire throughout the building. The arrangement of the existing building into numerous rooms which were required by the CCC-type construction results in very poor utilization of the total area and overcrowded conditions in the main area. This inadequate facility currently supports 1,104 NCO's, grade E-5 through E-9. Provision of a new mess will contribute materially to improvement of the morale and welfare of the noncommissioned officers at this vital installation.

The design of this project is 17 percent completed. Cost to date is $4,000. The architect-engineer is Albuquerque District Engineer.

Mr. SHEPPARD. What are you using for communication facilities at the Sandia Base at the present time?

Major LARSON. We will provide that for the record. (The information follows:)

Our present radio backup equipment is housed in unhardened buildings located on Sandia Base, a prime target area. The radio equipment is a World War II vintage frequency shift keying system which is obsolete, costly in maintenance, and incapable of carrying the expected wartime communications load.

The normal communications system is commercial landline teletype which operates satisfactorily and would continue to be used during wartime as long as it remained in commission. The proposed SSB equipment is intended to be used solely as an emergency backup to the commercial system, and for periodic peacetime tests.

The concept of operation provides for a hardened command post, adjacent to Sandia Base, which will serve as the communications control center and will be linked to a remote (34 miles distant) transmitter and receiver building, outside the area of expected damage, by a one-hop microwave link.

Existing communications buildings at Sandia Base will be released to the commanding officer, Sandia Base, for warehousing and equipment storage.

Mr. SHEPPARD. How much of this equipment would fall into the category of long lead items?

Major LARSON. I would say 5- to 10-year life. All this equipment we plan to get off the shelf would be procured and finished within the next few years and we are asking for the full amount.

Mr. SHEPPARD. You are pretty well assured you are going to have no problems in this category?

Major LARSON. Yes, sir.

Mr. SHEPPARD. What land acquisition is required and what is the status of this acquisition?

Major LARSON. The land required was the acreage necessary to build two transmitter sites at the top of a mesa 34 miles southwest of the base.

Mr. SHEPPARD. What is the cost factor for the acquisition of the land?

Major LARSON. The cost factor for the acquisition, access roads and parking is $163,000.

Mr. EAGLES. We are only going to buy 22 acres for each of our transmitter receiver sites. We are going to lease the others on a jointuse basis and people can graze and whatever they want to do there. We are only going to buy the land that the building sets on.

General SEEMAN. The land in that area is grazing land where 60 or 70 acres is necessary to keep a cow alive. It is very low value land. Mr. EAGLES. The cost has been estimated at less than $5,000 for those acres.

Major LARSON. It is up at the top of a mesa 200 feet high.

Mr. SHEPPARD. Based upon my exposure to this State and area, if you get 5 acres for $5,000, that is pretty expensive land.

Mr. EAGLES. The whole business is by lease and the fee will run $2,180.

Mr. SHEPPARD. Thank you, gentlemen.

UNITED STATES ARMY AIR DEFENSE COMMAND

Mr. SHEPPARD. The next item we shall pick up has to do with the U.S. Army Air Defense Command and insert pages 352 and 353 in the record at this point.

(The material requested may be found on the following pages.) Mr. SHEPPARD. I wish you would explain briefly to the committee what is involved in this general program.

General SEEMAN. There is no new deployment of missiles. This is the NIKE-AJAX and second generation NIKE-HERCULES. The nine items we are requesting for this command are described in detail on page 354 through 365 of the justification books.