BRAC commissioners agonized for hours over the decision to close Cannon because it is clearly a superb facility, as Utah officials readily admitted. But the aging nature of the F-16 fleet and its eventual retirement by 2025 necessitated that the Air Force close one of its three F-16 bases: Hill, Cannon or Shaw Air Force Base.

Cannon was rated the lowest of the three.

"The ultimate credit goes to the hard-working and skilled civilian and military work force at our installations," Bishop said. "They have made those installations easy to defend. They are not just important to our local economy; they are critical to our national defense. And I look forward to the additional missions and workloads our Utah installations should receive in the future."

But others credit proximity to the Utah Test and Training Range for keeping Hill out of any serious discussion of closure during the latest round of BRAC hearings.

Petersen said a key to Hill's future is the viability of the range, the nation's premier live-fire test range.

"The range is what has made Hill so valuable. It is our ace in the hole," Petersen said.

Commissioners all agreed that Cannon was a top training facility with incredible local support and unlimited air space for training. But the F-16s are fast becoming dinosaurs in the Air Force arsenal, and it was for that reason that commissioners reluctantly reassigned the fighter wing. The base will stay open until 2009 in the event the Air Force finds a new mission for the facility; if not, it will close.

So, despite the value of the training range, could the fate that befell Cannon be in Hill's future if it does not acquire missions with fleets of new generation aircraft?

Petersen said Utah officials are aggressively pursuing new missions for the Utah base that will make it viable for generations to come. The new F-22 fighter plane will likely find a role at Hill, and with 1,000 new F-35 joint strike fighters slated for construction to replace the F-16, Hill would seem a logical base for those new fighter wings, as well.

Closure of Cannon, as the Air Force recommended, could result in the reassignment of 2,824 military personnel and 384 civilians to bases across the country, including Hill, and the military said it would save the Air Force $2.7 billion over the next 20 years.

It is not clear how many personnel at Cannon will be transferred to Hill.

"But the future of our military in Utah looks bright," Bishop said.

On Wednesday, the BRAC Commission voted not to close Deseret Chemical Depot, one of the nation's few chemical-weapons incinerators, but to have the Army study the feasibility of converting it into an incinerator for outdated conventional weapons.

That move fueled concerns among some in Utah that any delay in closing the facility could mean an extended life for Deseret that would include incinerating chemical weapons from other depots around the country.