BRUNSWICK — A high-ranking officer at Brunswick Naval Air Station was put on the spot by a TV reporter over the viability of a naval station on Bermuda.

The interview with Adm. Jon Coleman, senior officer for U.S. maritime patrol and aviation at the Topsham annex, will be aired Thursday on “Prime Time Live,” the ABC-TV news program.

A promotional spot features news reporter Sam Donaldson asking Coleman, “Is it true the base has been a Club Med for admirals?”

During the interview, the admiral discussed the strategic importance of the base 580 miles from North Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean, said Michael L’Abbe, spokesman for Patrol Wings Atlantic.

L’Abbe said the Navy no longer flies P-3 anti-submarine aircraft out of Bermuda as it did until the mid-1980s, when the Soviet Union had submarines patrolling the Atlantic Ocean.

But the Bermuda base is still used for training exercises, refuelings, air traffic control center, weather tracking, NATO operations and an alternative field for naval aircraft and space shuttle operations, he said.