BRAC Moves Air Force Unit to Aberdeen Proving Ground

The U.S. Air Force under the last round of BRAC is moving its chemical, nuclear and biological defense development unit to the Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) in Maryland. Battelle was given a $32 million contract to aid in moving the 649th Aeronautical Systems Squadron from Texas. This round focused on concentrating the various parts of the services that carry on like roles. The Army has used APG for most of their chemical and biological research and the Air Force unit will move there to gain benefits from co-location. The Air Force bases in Texas though are gaining Army and Navy units related to medical research and training so that state will not suffer with this move.

Unlike a lot of contracts related to BRAC this is not for construction of facilities. Battelle will provide analysis and support so that not only with the Squadron be able to continue their programs and research without interruption; but also so that the unit can receive improved equipment and processes as part of the move. This is also a benefit of the BRAC process. By moving an organization or unit it is possible to upgrade and modernize their capability through improving facilities. The combining of like abilities from various services and organizations will also aid in sharing and exchanging experience and knowledge.

BRAC process continues

This article describes the start of construction of a new facility in Charlottesville, VA to handle a DoD group moving from DC. This is all part of the last round of BRAC. One of the key parts of that round was to consolidate like agencies and facilities near each other. Here an intelligence group is moving to be near another one. It also probably fulfills another goal which is to move people from leased facilities into government ones. Either way it adds a large construction contract and 1000 jobs to a rather nice part of VA.

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