Posts Tagged ‘BRAC’

Businesses that make their living recycling products that otherwise would be thrown away or destroyed are thriving at closed Air Force bases in California. At the former Norton AFB in San Bernardino, reRubber turns worn tires into crumbs for gym or playground floors, or powder for conversion into sealing and coating products for roofs, garage floors, driveways and as a puncture preventive in tires, reports the Air Force Real Property Agency. While crumbs are shipped to manufacturers, a new factory at Norton will convert the powder into sealant products …

Provisions in the House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill intended to protect states from an Air Force proposal to make wholesale adjustments in basing at Air National Guard bases potentially could leave the Montana Air National Guard without a mission. The state’s ANG base at Great Falls is scheduled to lose the F-15 mission of its 120th Fighter Wing this year to the California ANG as a result of the 2005 round of base closures. To replace the mission at Great Falls, the Air Force proposed moving C-130 aircraft from Fort Worth, Texas, to Montana as part of the changes in force structure it planned for FY 2013 …

Community leaders turned out in full force Thursday to demonstrate to Air Force Secretary Michael Donley their support for the Air Force Reserve’s 911th Airlift Wing located at Pittsburgh Air Reserve Station. Donley toured the base and listed to local officials tout the value of the 911th, which the Air Force has proposed to eliminate under its fiscal 2013 budget request, reported the Tribune-Review. The secretary was impressed by the local turnout and by the base, said Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald …

With a new BRAC round potentially close on the horizon, the Kern County Board of Supervisors toured Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake last week to gain a better understanding of what goes on at the Navy’s premier land range and weapons development laboratory. The base, located in the Western Mojave Desert of California, is used to test and evaluate weapons systems used on Navy aircraft, including unmanned aerial vehicles, and to develop new weapons and fuels. China Lake benefited from a consolidation of the Navy’s weapons testing and development functions following the 2005 BRAC round, gaining $350 million in construction and new personnel. The board and Scott O’Neil, executive director of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, generally agreed China Lake should emerge largely unharmed in a future BRAC due to its existing mission and geographic assets, reported the Daily Independent.

William “Dutch” Holland, a retired two-star general who commanded the 9th Air Force at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., has been named executive coordinator of the panel created to protect South Carolina’s installations from pending defense cuts. Holland’s experience at Shaw and work with the Sumter Base Defense Committee, the community organization that supports Shaw, qualified him for the position with the South Carolina Military Base Task Force, said state Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, who heads the task force …

Washington, D.C., residents were surprised to find out just how quickly redevelopment of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center is progressing during a meeting this week with a city planning official. The city will begin shortly to look for a master developer and hopes to reach an agreement with a firm before the end of the year, according to D.C. real estate blog urbanturf.com. The city then will negotiate a deal with the Army to obtain the 67.5 acres at the hospital campus designated for local redevelopment …

While the Pentagon is reviewing its force posture in Europe and Asia with the intent to consolidate the overseas footprint of the military services, officials should not overlook the “significant numbers” of facilities and personnel of the major defense agencies, the Senate Armed Services Committee notes in its report accompanying the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill the panel approved last month. To ensure those agencies are not ignored, the committee directs the deputy defense secretary to evaluate the feasibility and cost savings associated with closing overseas facilities and consolidating operations of the 16 defense agencies to existing facilities within the U.S. …

Online retail giant Amazon.com announced last month it will open a 950,000-square-foot fulfillment center at the former Norton Air Force Base in Southern California, creating 1,000 jobs in a region that badly needs them. The facility is being developed by Hillwood — the master developer for the base — and Clarion Partners as a joint venture. The center, one of two Amazon is building in California, could be completed as early as this fall …

Citing conflicting statements from senior Pentagon officials characterizing the extent to which the military has excess infrastructure, the Senate Armed Services Committee is requesting the Government Accountability Office to review the processes DOD uses to make such determinations, according to the panel’s report accompanying the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill it approved last month. “Senior Army officials have been quoted as stating that the Army has no interest in another BRAC round. Yet, recent briefings to the committee suggest that the Army does have excess capacity …

In the face of certain budget cuts and possible base closures, officials in Upstate New York are engaged in a full-on assault to protect the missions at the Information Directorate of the Air Force Research Lab, Rome, located at the former Griffiss Air Force Base. In April 2011, area universities and other organizations established the Central New York Defense Alliance to promote the region’s cyber industry cluster. The need to foster the industry cluster became particularly acute after DOD created the U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Md. …