Defense Communities 360 Headlines

The Horsham LRA completed a legally binding agreement with homeless service providers for a seven-acre parcel on the former Naval Air Station Willow Grove, overcoming the last barrier before it can submit the reuse plan for almost 900 acres of the property to DOD and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The authority completed the mixed use plan last month for the installation located outside of Philadelphia, but it did not submit it because it had not yet reached a final agreement with the homeless groups, reported Warminster Patch. Horsham Township’s next step is to form an implementation LRA that would apply to the Navy for an economic development conveyance, Township Manager Bill Walker told Patch.

House appropriators would provide $519 billion for the fiscal 2013 defense spending bill, $8 billion more than Senate appropriators have allocated, under the draft funding allocations released Tuesday by the House Appropriations Committee. The 11 other spending bills would receive lower funding under the House allocations, which follow the $1.028 trillion budget resolution drafted by Budget Chairman Paul Ryan …

Rep. Joe Wilson, chairman of the Armed Services military personnel subcommittee, is expected to add language to his panel’s portion of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill to ensure DOD does not shrink the end strength of the Army and Marine Corps too quickly. The provision would limit annual reductions in the Army to 15,000 personnel per year from FY 2014 through 2017, reported CQ Today. It also would limit annual reductions in the Marine Corps to 5,000 personnel per year from 2014 through 2017 …

Three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, including the top Democrat and Republican, repeated their concerns Tuesday that the Pentagon has yet to answer questions about the cost, military sustainment and force management, and overall strategy for the Asia-Pacific region after being briefed on a new agreement between the United States and Japan on the planned move of Marines from Okinawa to Guam. “We require additional information regarding how this proposal relates to the broader strategic concept of operations in the region, the Marine Corps’ concept of operations, master plans and alternatives to base realignments on Guam and Okinawa, as well as the positioning of U.S. Air Force units in the Asia-Pacific region …

Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s offer to restore some of the proposed cuts to the Air National Guard represented “progress,” but stopped short of fully endorsing the Pentagon’s revised plan. On Monday, Panetta offered to restore 24 C-130s and 2,200 Guard positions at a cost of $400 million over five years after the department rejected a more far-reaching proposal from the Council of Governors …

The Veterans Affairs Department budget would be exempt from the automatic spending cuts slated to go into effect starting next January, the Office of Management and Budget ruled Monday in response to congressional inquiries. While the decision is boon for veterans programs, it means defense programs would be forced to absorb the brunt of the $500 billion in automatic cuts that would be imposed from 2013 through 2021 …

The Defense Department, Navy and developer of a proposed 83-turbine wind farm located near Naval Air Station Kingsville reached agreement last week on a series of actions to mitigate the potential for the project to interfere with flight operations at the installation situated on the Texas Coastal Bend. The deal alleviates the fears of Navy officials about the likelihood that proposed wind farms could affect installations across the state …

The reuse of military installations closed outside of the BRAC process would receive the same liability protections when unknown contamination is discovered as the developers of BRAC sites are provided, under legislation introduced last week by Indiana Rep. Todd Young. Young introduced the Base Redevelopment and Indemnification Correction Act, H.R. 4407, to benefit the former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant in southern Indiana. Concerns about the potential that developers would bear legal liability if unknown contaminants are found at the plant have blocked interest in investing in what is now called River Ridge Commerce Center, Young said …

U.S. and Japanese officials have agreed that only 4,000 Marines will move from Okinawa to Guam, a drop from a revised understanding reached earlier this year, according to reports in the Japanese media. In February, the two nations scaled down their original plan to relocate 8,000-plus Marines and their families to Guam. At the time, DOD officials indicated only 4,700 Marines would move …

Defense officials have agreed to shift $400 million to the Air National Guard to fund 24 C-130 aircraft in a compromise intended to mollify state governors unhappy over wide-ranging cuts to Air National Guard personnel and aircraft included in the Air Force’s fiscal 2013 budget proposal, the AFP news service reported Monday night. The money would come out of the service’s budget for the active force …