The Department of Defense has given the green light for $348 million in construction work at New Jersey’s Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base, as part of a consolidation of three area bases into one. Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the consolidated bases (ordered by the 2005 BRAC decision, along with Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station) will get 2,083 new or renovated houses over six years and many older structures will be demolished. The new installation, now called Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is the largest Air Force family housing project in history and the first joint Army-Air Force housing project, according to Saxton.
The Pentagon is counting on Congress to navigate a legislative tightrope and pass a party-line bill to fund nearly a quarter of its $1.5 trillion budget request for fiscal 2027, including billions of dollars for top priorities like Golden Dome, the F-35, munitions, and unmanned systems. Experts and lawmakers from…