Orders for 39th TEWS personnel originally were to Bitburg AB but shortly prior it was realized the additional 2,000 feet of runway on the larger inactive hilltop at Spang was a great benefit to the older EB-66 which had gained weight on modifications at Tulsa Plant where heavier cables for greatly increased jamming capability from RB-66B to EB-66E were added without removing the earlier in hard to get to areas. Near same time, plans to modify the early turbo jet engines to modern high bypass design were not considered with plans to retire the 1950s design in very few years and end of SEA needs. Modern miniature electronics were to allow the strike aircraft to carry their own modular ECM components in a great 30 minute rush to the border and roll back of enemy forces. This was envisioned as "Plugging the Fulda Gap" with WW 2-style massed armored Soviet forces.