Bush signature finalizes BRAC gains for area
Arsenal gets some 5,000 jobs, most of missile work
Thursday, November 10, 2005
President Bush signed the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission's recommendations into law Wednesday, cementing Redstone Arsenal's gain of nearly 5,000 jobs, including two top military headquarters and the bulk of the nation's missile defense work.
In August, the BRAC panel voted to relocate the headquarters of the Army Materiel Command, the headquarters of the Army Space & Missile Defense Command and most of the Missile Defense Agency's work from the Washington, D.C., area to Huntsville. Nearly 5,000 military and contractor jobs come with those moves, U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, said in a news release.
The 5,000 jobs number is a net gain that factors in about 1,000 Redstone jobs that would go elsewhere under the BRAC recommendation.
Units slated to leave Redstone include the U.S. Army Munitions, Ordnance and Electronics School, to be consolidated with schools at Fort Lee, Va.; a joint robotics program to be consolidated with work performed at Detroit Arsenal, Warren, Mich.; information systems development to be consolidated with work done at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.; and supply work performed for multiple missile and aviation programs to be moved to Columbus, Ohio, and Fort Belvoir, Va.
The House rejected an effort to kill the entire BRAC list in late October and the Senate did not act, sending the list to Bush for his signature.
"Today's action will make the Defense Department more efficient and it has confirmed that our superior bases are enduring ones," Sessions said in a statement.
Overall, Sessions said, Alabama gained about 5,000 jobs and retained about 2,500 jobs the Pentagon had slated for relocation to other states.
Birmingham retained the 117th Air Refueling Wing, keeping 548 jobs.
Montgomery retained the Operations and Sustainment Systems Group at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, keeping 2,065 jobs. The 187th Fighter Wing gained 3 F-16s from Great Falls, Mont., adding 50 jobs, according to Sessions.
Five new Joint Reserve Centers will also open in several communities around Alabama, Sessions said, replacing aging "service specific" centers.
Sessions said Alabama will also benefit from about 10,000 jobs added at Fort Benning, Ga., just across the Alabama-Georgia line.
"A share of these families will settle in housing in Alabama," Sessions said.
© 2005 The Huntsville Times
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