Topeka ? Kansas National Guard officials hope a proposed study of a new mission for Forbes Field could bolster the state’s role in homeland security and protect the base from closure.

The House and Senate have approved their own versions of a Department of Defense spending bill that would authorize a study of a proposal to create an airlift wing in Kansas to shuttle federal emergency response teams nationwide in the event of a terrorist attack.

Negotiators must work out the final details of the spending bill, but state officials say the progress gives a proposal the Kansas National Guard has been developing some momentum. The study would be completed by April 1.

“The idea needs to stand the scrutiny of a study,” said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, state adjutant general.

Work on the proposal has accelerated in recent months as the state looks to shore up its military installations before the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process gets under way. The military is considering eliminating 25 percent of its infrastructure.

Concerns have been raised that Forbes and the 190th Air Refueling Wing of the Kansas Air National Guard could be vulnerable given their proximity to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, which is home to the Air Guard’s 184th Refueling Wing and the Air Force’s 22nd Air Refueling Wing.

Bunting said the proposal doesn’t make Forbes immune to closure, but would improve its value to the military.

The new mission would be to transport 22-member civil support teams, which are trained to respond to incidents of mass destruction. The 73rd Civil Support Team of the Kansas National Guard is based at Forbes.

State officials propose adding more civil support teams to Forbes and supplying them with up to 12 C-130 cargo planes, fully loaded with equipment.

Bunting said one team would not be enough to respond to a terrorist attack. The Forbes proposal would have a plane loaded and ready to go around the clock.

Forbes would be an ideal location, Bunting said, because of existing facilities and the availability of the 190th’s pilots and crews.

The study does not specify which base in the United States should get the new mission.

“Both bills require DOD to conduct a study on homeland defense airlift requirements,” the defense department said in a statement last week. “Nowhere in either bill will you find mention of Topeka or the 190th. It would be premature and inappropriate for us to comment in greater specificity than the bills already do at this juncture.”