The Army’s plans to trim its end strength will not be hampered if a round of base closures is not held in 2013, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno told reporters Wednesday. Reductions in personnel most likely would occur at major installations, so the Army will be OK, he said, implying that officials were not planning on closing larger posts in the next BRAC round. “And I feel pretty comfortable with that …
The White House has said it “strongly objects” to language in the House version of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill limiting the Army to reducing its end strength by 15,000 per year and the Marine Corps to 5,000 per year in FYs 2014 to 2017. The Pentagon proposed cutting the Army by 72,000 and the Marine Corps by 20,000 over that time period. “The timing and pace of the planned reductions to the Army and Marine Corps are tied to anticipated changes in operational demand based on the nation’s current commitments as well as the new defense strategy, which emphasizes a smaller and leaner force …
A bipartisan coalition of 13 senators is asking the Senate Armed Services Committee to require DOD to report on the impact of proposed force structure adjustments before launching such actions. The request follows the dispute triggered by the far-reaching set of force reductions the Air Force included in its fiscal 2013 budget request affecting more than 60 installations. “We have not been provided clear and objective metrics by which the reductions and restructuring proposed at specific installations have been selected …
The South Dakota Ellsworth Development Authority is moving ahead with two projects to preserve Ellsworth Air Force Base and its tremendous economic impact in the western portion of the state. Since the base narrowly averted closure in the last BRAC round, the authority has been purchasing properties surrounding the installation’s airfield to reduce encroachment, reported the Rapid City Journal. A low-income housing project now under construction will offer a new housing option for some of those residents …
The stated $8.6 billion cost for the revamped realignment of 5,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam is still a preliminary estimate and most likely will shift after more detailed planning is completed. The cost of moving thousands of Marines to Hawaii, for instance, was not included in the estimate, reported Stars and Stripes …
The White House objected Tuesday to restrictions in the House version of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill precluding the Pentagon from planning for a new base closure round and realigning key missions at three particular Air Force bases. The base closure provision bars the department from proposing, planning for or carrying out an additional BRAC round. The other provisions prohibit the department from shuffling elements of the Air Armament Center at Eglin AFB, Fla., Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and the Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom, AFB, Mass. …
The Air Force plans to announce in December candidate locations for the formal training unit and first main operating base for the KC-46A, the next-generation tanker being built by Boeing Co. Officials then would launch the environmental impact analysis process, officials announced Monday. The formal training unit and first main operating base will be led by active duty units …
When the Defense Health Headquarters — which will bring all DOD military medical health care operations to one campus — opens in July, about 3,000 employees are expected to exacerbate existing traffic congestion in Fairfax County, Va. Because the facility is located in leased space that already existed, however, the site was not required to meet many rules designed to lessen traffic impacts, reports wtop.com …
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta last week assured Alaska Sen. Mark Begich that the Pentagon would provide its rationale for its proposal to relocate a squadron of F-16s from Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. Begich had asked the Air Force for the justification it relied on since officials included the realignment in the force structure changes they announced in February …
The Air Force controls the largest percentage of DOD-owned land — 49 percent or 7.0 million acres — with the Army coming in second with 37 percent. When all 28.5 million acres of land managed by DOD are included — adding public land, public land withdrawn for military use, licensed and permitted land, and foreign land — the Army controls the largest share, 49 percent, to the Air Force’s 35 percent. Data on DOD’s worldwide land holdings and an inventory of all of its facilities is contained in the FY 2012 Base Structure Report …