Wright-Patt to land $182M for expansion
National Air and Space Intelligence Center gets funding for upgrade.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is expected to land $182 million for one of the biggest projects in its history if the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act is signed into law by President Donald Trump.
The federal funding will allow the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patt to expand, according to details of the bill released Tuesday. NASIC will receive an appropriation of $61 million so construction can begin in fiscal year 2019, according
to Sen. Sherrod Brown-D, and Sen. Rob Portman-R.
The $716-billion defense bill is likely to win passage in the U.S. House this week and in the Senate next week before heading to Trump’s desk.
“This is obviously an exciting one for Wright-Patt,” said U.S. Rep Mike Turner, R-Dayton, “This is the level of a type of construction that many bases would be envious to see so it’s quite a celebration for our community.”
NASIC analyzes adversaries air, space, and cyber threats, such as ballistic missile capabilities, and provides findings to the nation’s political and military leaders. The expansion will be the largest single project in the last 50 years at the base and one of the biggest ones in its history, said Jeff Hoagland, president of the Dayton Development Coalition.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to award the full contract by spring 2020, according to the agency. The construction period would likely be two and a half years.
“This bill will make sure Wright-Patt’s highly-skilled workers can continue to do their jobs and help meet our national security needs,” Brown said in a statement.
NASIC has pressed the need for the new space to relieve overcrowding, agency spokeswoman Michelle Martz has said. The size of the new building will “certainly put a dent in that problem,” she said.
As national decision makers and others have demanded more intelligence, NASIC’s workforce has increased by about 1,500 employees at Wright-Patt, or 100 a year between 2000 to 2015, according to the agency. The building would bring employees in six different locations into one facility. An expansion would add 900 seats to house intelligence analysts and engineers and add labs.
“I look forward to Congress passing this conference report soon because new facilities are critical for NASIC to fulfill its increasingly important intelligence analysis mission for our Air Force and national policymakers,” Sen. Rob Portman said in a statement.
The Department of Defense will administer the funding for the project, which will likely take three or four years to be completed, Turner said.
The NASIC investment will likely keep the agency at Wright-Patterson for years to come, Turner said. It also means Wright-Patt is unlikely to be targeted for closure any time soon, he said.
“This new expansion will put NASIC on the forefront and will certainly ensure that their mission will remain at Wright-Patt Air Force Base and continue to grow,” Turner said.
NASIC is “always under pressure” from other intelligence agencies that want to do the organization’s job, Turner said, and part of his job is “thwarting” those other agencies.
The defense bill, which was agreed to by House and Senate negotiators Monday, included several other provisions that affect Wright-Patt and Ohio’s defense industry.
The bill provides more than $1 billion toward research and development programs for the Air Force Research Lab at Wright-Patt.
Last summer, the U.S. Department of Defense announced plans to shift certain Defense Production Act jobs from Wright-Patt to the Pentagon. But, if it becomes law the NDAA would prohibit the Department of Defense from moving those jobs without congressional approval, according to Brown’s office.
The NDAA will also include $335.8 million to address issues of toxic chemicals from getting into local water supply at Air Force bases.
The bill waters down a section of the House bill which would have ordered the Pentagon to dramatically scale back the number of civilian defense jobs, including possible reductions to the 6,000 jobs at the Whitehall defense agencies and another 2,600 jobs at a defense accounting agency in Cleveland.
Brown, a member of the conference committee that produced the final defense bill, inserted language into the measure which gives the Pentagon final authority on whether to scale back civilian defense jobs. Because the White House opposed that section in the House bill, it is extremely unlikely any civilian jobs will be eliminated.
The original version of the NDAA approved this spring by the House called for the Pentagon to study cuts and target them at specific defense bureaucratic missions. But, buried inside the latest version is a section requiring the Pentagon to “reduce or eliminate duplicative functions” and instructing the Pentagon to report back to Congress by 2021 that a savings of 25 percent be achieved.
“Workers in Whitehall and communities across Ohio play a critical role in our nation’s defense,” Brown said in a statement, adding he would “continue working” with the Pentagon “to ensure their jobs are protected.”