Posts Tagged ‘mission support/community partnerships’

Full-time members of the Army and Air National Guard who work as military technicians are not exempt from sequestration and could be placed on unpaid furloughs along with DOD’s 800,000 civilian workers, Guard officials said last week. More than half of the National Guard’s full-time members may be furloughed, resulting in maintenance backlogs for all states and curtailment of critical training, especially aviation crew training …

As the likelihood that the Pentagon will be forced to absorb deep spending cuts edges closer, the anxiety level of the 4,200 employees at Letterkenny Army Depot, located 50 miles southwest of Harrisburg, Pa., has ramped up. The depot may have to cope with $442 million in cuts this year, jeopardizing the jobs of the civilian contractors employed there and likely resulting in furloughs for its 1,743 full-time civilian workers …

While the Army is struggling to deal with an urgent funding crisis affecting its operations budget, it needs to tackle a fundamental imbalance between its long-term spending plan and force structure, according to an analysis in National Defense magazine. The Army benefitted the most of any service from the escalation in spending following 9/11 and, as a result, will have to shrink far more dramatically than the Air Force or Navy. The administration’s plan to eliminate 100,000 troops by 2017 will not be “nearly enough to get the Army’s fiscal house in order …

The combined impact of sequestration and operating under a full-year continuing resolution would affect an estimated 302,626 jobs in fiscal 2013 and result in an economic loss of $15.4 billion throughout the nation, according to a new analysis by the Army. Texas would suffer the largest estimated economic impact, with a loss of $2.4 billion through Sept. 30, according to a state-by-state estimate released this week by the Army. The rest of the top five states are Alabama ($1.9 billion), Pennsylvania ($1.1 billion), Virginia ($1.0 billion) and Georgia ($931 million) …

Legislation approved Tuesday by the Alabama Senate is designed to offer Huntsville a new tactic for supporting Redstone Arsenal and, ultimately, lure new missions there in a future BRAC round. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, would allow city and county governments to spend public funds on federal property, but it is aimed at giving a boost to Redstone Arsenal …

The Navy’s plan to cancel much of its ship maintenance and construction in the last half of the year if it is forced to make up a multi-billion-dollar shortfall in operations and maintenance will strike at the heart of the ship repair workforce in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, reports the Virginian-Pilot. About 40,000 people work in the ship repair industry in Hampton Roads. The Navy recently said it would cancel 70 percent of all ship maintenance projects at private shipyards in the last six months of the fiscal year …

The last two states to join the Union would be the most vulnerable to sequestration as federal defense spending makes up a disproportionate share of the gross domestic product of Hawaii and Alaska, according to a new report by Wells Fargo Securities. In Hawaii, defense spending accounts for 14.6 percent of the state’s 2010 GDP; in Alaska it accounts for 10.5 percent of the state’s GDP …

Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Monday awarded $2.6 million in defense support task force grants to 10 projects intended to preserve the state’s military installations and boost its reputation as a military friendly state. The 2012-13 grants were awarded to the Bay County Defense Alliance, National Simulation Center in Orlando, Highlands County EDC, city of Jacksonville, Tampa Bay Defense Alliance, Santa Rosa County, the Greater Pensacola Chamber, the Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze and the Florida 8 (a) Alliance in Jacksonville …

The Navy plans to carry out dozens of cost-cutting moves to address the looming shortfall in its budget, affecting ship maintenance and deployments, military construction and installation support, according to a presentation released Tuesday. The list of “potential actions” is based on sequestration kicking in March 1 and DOD being forced to operate under a continuing resolution through Sept. 30. Under those assumptions, the Navy would defer new construction projects costing $675 million; reduce facilities, sustainment, restoration and modernization by 50 percent, or $1.2 billion; and reduce base operating support by 10 percent, or $495 million …

The Federal Aviation Administration last week opened a nationwide competition to host one of six research and test sites for integrating unmanned aircraft systems with manned aircraft, ending a months-long delay for multiple defense communities seeking to leverage the presence of the military and other existing users of pilotless aircraft. Overall, about two dozen partnerships made up of state and local governments, universities and other public entities are expected to apply …