Air Force Prepared to Close Bases in New BRAC Round, Top Officer Says

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said Friday that he supports DOD's proposal to ask for another base closure round, given the failure of the last BRAC to eliminate any of the service's installations, along with the dwindling size of the service's fleet. "Since 2005 our inventory of aircraft, for example, has declined in the neighborhood of 500 aircraft. And so the presumption is -- I think it's a fair presumption -- that there's yet more excess infrastructure ...

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Loss of European Brigades Will Not Benefit U.S. Basing

The two heavy brigade combat teams slated to be withdrawn from Europe will not be re-stationed in the United States, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno said Friday. "They will come out of the force," he said at a Pentagon news briefing held to discuss the impact of DOD's new strategic guidance on the Army ...

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BRAC Not Critical to Army ‘Footprint,’ Odierno Says

Army installations likely would not be affected dramatically by a future BRAC round, as the previous one resulted in "a fairly significant consolidation within the Army," Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno told reporters Friday. "So for the Army, I believe a follow-on BRAC would be -- would not have as much impact on the Army because we've pretty much done what we want to. … For the most part, we have established our installations ...

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Lawmakers Line up against BRAC Proposal

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle said they oppose holding another round of base closures, as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta proposed last week, with most highlighting the need to assess the nation's overseas basing before launching a new BRAC. The joint statement released by the Senate delegations for Maine and New Hampshire was typical: "The department is in the midst of decisions on our posture overseas, including the possibility of withdrawing forces and closing bases in Europe ...

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Navy Secretary Establishes ’1 Gigawatt Task Force’

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has set up a task force to assess renewable energy projects that will help the service produce or consume one gigawatt of renewable energy on its installations, the service said last week. "One gigawatt of renewable energy produced from sources like solar, wind, and geothermal could power a city the size of Orlando, Florida, while increasing the security and flexibility of the energy grid ...

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