Another round of base realignment and closure could save the Air Force $25 billion, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen Wilson said Tuesday. USAF has “25 percent excess capacity,” he said in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. When pressed by members of the committee, Wilson said that BRAC could “help us do smart investment” at a time of tight military budgets by taking money currently being used to support excess base capacity and put it toward other areas of dire need, like “deferred maintenance.” When asked if he would support such a move, Wilson said, “yes” unequivocally. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the ranking member of HASC, reintroduced a House BRAC bill on Jan. 26. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), SASC ranking member, recently said they were ready to consider a new round of BRAC.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
