BELLEVUE, Neb. — Offutt Air Force Base's runway is crumbling.

The runway's poor condition has some community leaders fearing the 55th Mission Support Group could leave Bellevue, according to the Omaha World-Herald.

Nebraska's summer storms and winter blizzards have battered it for 74 years, and it has taken a pounding from takeoffs and landing by 50-ton military jets. Ground crews must watch constantly for loose chunks of concrete that could destroy a $10 million jet engine if they were sucked inside. Teams of airmen walk the field every two hours to pick them up.

"It's recognized that Offutt's runway is the worst of any in the Air Combat Command," said Col. Matt Joganich, commander of the base's 55th Mission Support Group. "It's been Band-Aided over the years. At some point, it has to be replaced."

Leaders worry that without rebuilding the runway at a cost of up to $125 million, the base risks losing the Air Force's largest air wing and its 5,500 military and civilian employees.

Losing the 55th Wing would cost the Omaha area four times as many jobs as ConAgra Foods' decision to move its headquarters to Chicago and cut its workforce.

"The threats to Offutt are real," said State Sen. Tommy Garrett, a retired Air Force officer whose Bellevue legislative district includes the base.

Ken Stinson, who heads the Nebraska Military Support Coalition, pleaded with legislators at a forum this month in Lincoln to support the base — especially a new runway.

"We have some vulnerabilities at Offutt," said Stinson, former chairman of Peter Kiewit Sons' Inc. "Principal among those is the condition of the ... main and only runway at Offutt."

Twenty-six percent of the base's airfield is rated "high risk" for pavement failures, Joganich said, even though repair crews spend about 400 hours each year repairing it. That's a higher percentage than at any of the 17 bases across the country that fall under the wing's parent Air Combat Command, and far higher than the standard of 10 percent.

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