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confirmation last week that base personnel have been piloting drones since Nov. 1. The base's drone program should give Ellsworth a stronger position in future base closure rounds.
• Ellsworth AFB commander Col. Mark Weatherington said 100 personnel were working in the drone program with more personnel to be added.
• The base is remotely piloting the MQ-9 Reaper and MQ-1 Predator on surveillance and combat missions around the world. Both aircraft can carry missiles and other munitions, although they are primarily used for surveillance. Weatherington said the aircraft are located at overseas bases and are not at Ellsworth.
• A major criterion for deciding which bases remain open and which are closed is whether money could be saved if a single-mission base is closed and its units moved to another base. The more missions a base has, the more difficult it becomes to justify its closure.
• When the Base Closure and Realignment Commission put Ellsworth on the base closure list in 2005, it was justified as saving money by consolidating the nation's B-1 bomber fleet at one base: Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.
• Congressional, state and local officials successfully argued that basing the nation's entire B-1 fleet at one site presents a national security risk and crowds training areas. But that argument may not succeed in the future.
• By adding the drone mission, as well as the Financial Services Center, to the B-1 bomber mission, Ellsworth is on a stronger foundation if another base closure round were to happen. The Obama administration has suggested that closing bases would save money, so adding missions like the remotely piloted aircraft weapon protects Ellsworth.
• Ellsworth AFB is South Dakota's second-largest employer and one that the state and Rapid City cannot afford to lose.
• The addition of a drone program at Ellsworth is good news for the Rapid City area.
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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- The U.S. Agriculture Department says corn prices in South Dakota inched up in February.
• The South Dakota office of the National Agriculture Statistics Service says corn, at $6.87 per bushel, is up 2 cents from last month and up 81 cents from last year.
• The preliminary winter wheat price, at $7.66, is down 44 cents from last month but up 97 cents from last February. The spring wheat price, at $7.81, is 28 cents lower than last month and 40 cents lower than last year.

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