WASHINGTON — Air Force officials made a final public plea yesterday for their plan to overhaul more than 24 Air National Guard units, warning the squadrons would steadily become more ineffective and poorly equipped unless their proposal were approved.

Testifying with other Pentagon officials at the last public hearing of the nine-member commission assessing the Pentagon's base-closing plan, the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. John Jumper, warned "this round of closures and realignment represents the last opportunity we will have for a generation to reset our forces."

The Air Force wants to retire aging aircraft from many Guard units, close or consolidate some of their bases and train some squadrons for new missions, such as flying Predator drones by remote control.

But several commissioners suggested the plan had become so controversial in states that would lose their aircraft that it might not survive when the commission begins voting on whether to accept the recommendations this week.

"I've never seen so many governors united, whether Democrat or Republican, and angry about one particular item in my whole political career," said James Bilbray, one of the nine members of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) and a former congressman from Nevada.

Under the plan, five states — Connecticut, Delaware, Montana, Nevada and North Dakota — would lose all their aircraft.

Governors share authority with the president over the use of Air Guard units, which are frequently employed in fighting forest fires and responding to other natural disasters. Governors from states that would lose aircraft, along with state adjutants general who command the units, are arguing that the plan will degrade domestic security and leave them without enough aircraft nearby to respond to natural disasters.

The commission is scheduled to begin voting Wednesday on each element of the Pentagon proposal that would shut, consolidate or realign more than 800 military facilities in all 50 states. The commission, which includes retired military officers, former members of Congress and former Cabinet members, has until Sept. 8 to submit its changes to President Bush. The president and Congress have until Nov. 7 to reject or accept the entire package.

Several commissioners said they remained unconvinced by the Pentagon's claim that the plan would save nearly $50 billion over 20 years, an estimate challenged by the Government Accountability Office.

At least two states — Pennsylvania and Illinois — are suing in federal court to block the loss of some of their Air Guard planes, claiming the U.S. government doesn't have the right to take the planes without permission from the affected governor. Two of the three legal opinions the commission has solicited on the Air Guard issue back the Pentagon's plans.

Material from USA Today is included in this report.