Missile Program Official Replaced After Accident

By JOHN JOHNSON

Dec. 31, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE — A commander in the elite missile-testing program here has been relieved after superiors lost confidence in his abilities, the third time in recent months that ranking officers at California military installations have been replaced.

Lt. Col. Douglas Kelly of the 576th Flight Test Squadron was reassigned several weeks ago.

Col. Paul Burnett--who, from Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., served as Kelly’s superior while the lieutenant colonel was at Vandenberg--said the replacement was “due to a loss of confidence in [Kelly’s] ability to lead the organization. This was based upon several events over time.”

Burnett did not elaborate in his statement. But the squadron has suffered several public embarrassments in recent months. Most notably, a truck carrying a test Minuteman missile rolled over June 29 when the driver lost control while negotiating a curve on the base’s El Rancho Road.

The missile was damaged beyond repair; the cost of the accident was estimated at $2.3 million. A subsequent investigation determined that speed contributed to the accident. The driver was traveling about 50 mph. The investigation also found that the driver was inadequately trained and inexperienced at handling the giant vehicle, called a transporter erector. He had driven the transporter under similar conditions only once before.

The investigation faulted local commanders for failing to require driver-training courses. The unit’s failure to require the training for prospective transporter drivers “renders the unit in noncompliance with a governing Air Force Space Command instruction,” according to the investigators’ report.

Since the accident, the base has lowered the speed limit on the curve to 15 mph.

Kelly took command of the 576th Flight Test Squadron, which measures the accuracy and reliability of intercontinental ballistic missiles, in May 2000.

There have been at least two other high-profile shake-ups at California military installations. In late October, three officers at Lemoore Naval Air Station in the San Joaquin Valley were relieved of their duties after maintenance problems were discovered in F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets.

A review of a dozen Hornet squadrons uncovered problems with undocumented spare parts, unauthorized stockpiling of spare parts and using other aircraft for spare parts without approval.

On Dec. 11, the head of the Navy’s electronics research and development center in San Diego was relieved of his command after being found guilty of dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer.

Capt. Ernest Valdes, commander of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, was accused of failing to take drug and physical fitness tests and refusing to allow security officers to search his car. He also was accused of convincing two sailors to lie that he had taken fitness tests. Valdes was found guilty in an administrative hearing.

A Department of Defense spokesman in Washington denied that these actions represent a decision to take a harder line on errors and indiscretions committed by base commanders since Sept. 11. “There has been no [departmentwide] policy put out,” said Capt. Tim Taylor, a department spokesman.

Asked whether the same actions would have taken place before Sept. 11, however, Taylor said: “I don’t know about that. You have to have the trust and confidence of your commander.”

In wartime, the need for trust is especially acute. Still, “commanders get relieved from time to time,” he said.

At Vandenberg, Kelly has been replaced by Lt. Col. Mike Fortney, formerly the special assistant to the commander in chief of the U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.

In that position, military officials said, Fortney coordinated congressional engagements and oversaw other events involving the commander in chief.

Fortney joined the Air Force in 1978 and has previously served on a Minuteman III ICBM crew and held maintenance assignments with the Minuteman and Peacekeeper weapons systems.

“We have the right person at the right time in the right place in Mike Fortney,” Burnett said.

Fortney said: “For a career ICBM guy like myself . . . what could be better than to command this squadron?”

Kelly has been reassigned to Colorado Springs.