Reserve Center in Los Alamitos Bucks Trend With Expansion : Military: During era of cutbacks, Army facility celebrates opening of huge, $11-million hangar for helicopters.

At a time when the military faces unprecedented cutbacks throughout the country, the Army Reserve center here Saturday celebrated the opening of an $11-million aircraft hangar, touted as the largest of its kind in the nation’s Army reserve command.

“This is a sign that the military is not folding its tent,” said Maj. Gen. Roger Sandler, commanding general of the U.S. Army Reserve. “The military is not going out of business.”

Sandler said the cavernous, 75,000-square-foot “helicopter garage” was needed to provide critical maintenance for a fleet of 69 UH-1H Hueys and to prepare for the arrival of 36 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters as the local command stands by to support combat and humanitarian missions.

The facility will house the 214th Combat Aviation Regiment, a unit of the 63rd U.S. Army Reserve Command.

First planned about 13 years ago, military officials said, the hangar was funded well before historic changes in the world’s political climate prompted the restructuring of the military.

The general said the facility remained much-needed in California, as it replaces a World War II-era structure that could not accommodate the range of the repair operations needed with the arrival of the Blackhawk helicopters.

“This gives people a sense of pride,” Sandler said. “The Army Reserve is alive and well and will be alive and well for a long time.”

For Saturday’s event, where guests were serenaded by a military band as they wandered about the sparkling white floors, political officials joined Army officers to toast the hangar’s opening.

While some guests munched on cake and cookies in the shadow of helicopter rotors, others were ushered to a private reception in an upstairs office where officials popped champagne and dined on roast beef sandwiches.

Attending the opening, Rep. Edward R. Royce (R-Fullerton) said facilities like the Los Alamitos hangar represented a conversion to more efficient military operations, enabling the Defense Department to absorb its many cutbacks and base closures.

“This is comparable in industry to switching to an automated system,” Royce said.