Clearing the Fog of War

Huge aerospace project could be headed for San Antonio

San Antonio is a finalist for a mega aerospace project that has the potential to generate thousands of high-paying jobs, local officials have confirmed.

According to several sources involved in the recruitment push, the city is competing against sites in Washington and Florida for the economic development prize.

The officials, who asked to remain anonymous because they're not authorized to discuss the project, said the aerospace firm would need 250 to 500 workers early on, many of them engineers.

The operation — which would include research and development and manufacturing — eventually would employ a workforce of at least 3,000, though the timeframe is unknown. Average pay would be at least $80,000 a year.

Port San Antonio, the former Kelly AFB and home to several sizable aerospace operations, is the local site under consideration.

Yet key details of the project — including the company's identity, the amount of potential investment and what will be developed and built — remain closely guarded secrets.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/S-A-in-contention-for-aerospace-investment-4181438.php#ixzz2HnI22Qty

BRAC cloud could have a silver lining

A Pentagon call to shutter more bases Thursday drew concern and outright opposition, but leaders in San Antonio and elsewhere in Texas say the state likely would win big if a new closure round is ordered.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that he wants to start a new base-closure process “as soon as possible” as the Pentagon moves to cut its budget by $487 billion over 10 years.

Mayor Julián Castro and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff credited the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment round with pumping $3.3 billion into the economy, positioning the city to support new missions.

But Castro, Wolff and Richard Perez, president and CEO of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, said they'll have to create a group to prepare for a new BRAC and learn far more about the Pentagon's plans.

“The military investment made over the last couple of years has been essential to San Antonio's economic success and will continue to be, and so it's important for us to coalesce and to fight for the military investment that's already been made and can be made in the future,” Castro said.

Few were surprised as word of a new round broke.

Bill Parry, executive director of the Killeen-based Heart of Texas Defense Alliance, said then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates talked over the past two years of holding down costs. In an August 2010 briefing, Gates said the services were told to consider consolidating or closing “excess” bases.

“This is obviously a politically fraught topic,” Gates said at the time.

BRAC has been dreaded in San Antonio, which lost Kelly AFB and Brooks City-Base in separate rounds since 1995. Kelly, where 10,000 people once worked, often is credited for creating a Hispanic middle class in San Antonio. Brooks was a research hub with ties to the space program.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/New-closure-round-could-boost-Texas-2743124.php#ixzz20M2C2AKj

(Originally published January 27, 2012.)