The Miami Valley base, the state’s largest military installation with about 27,000 employees and about 100 units inside the fence, is the most complex of Ohio military facilities, he said.
RELATED: Protecting Wright Patt goal of BRAC task force visit
The Wright-Patterson stops included the 445th Airlift Wing, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the National Air and Space Intelligence, and the 88th Air Base Wing headquarters.
“It’s huge,” said state Rep. Hearcel F. Craig, D-Columbus. “The sheer size of the landscape of the base is enormous.”
The Pentagon and the White House pushed for a base realignment and closure round in the latest defense budget, but Congress didn’t go along — despite years of pleas from top military leaders that the Department of Defense has too many bases for the size of the force.
Still, state leaders say they want to be prepared if a BRAC happens or the Pentagon reduces or moves missions on its own.
“When and if we are hit with a BRAC or anything that smells like a BRAC, we can pull that (report) out,” Perales said, saying it would be updated annually. “We won’t have to dust it off, it will be pretty accurate and we can just give a quick update.
“We’re going to have the whole state buy into it,” he added. “We’re not just coming to southwest Ohio.”
RELATED: Ohio leaders say funding will help protect Wright Patt
The task force will release recommendations and priorities on what to focus on by the end of March next year, Perales said.
This year, state lawmakers set aside $500,000 over two years to pay for infrastructure needs at Wright-Patterson to bolster the installation’s military value in anticipation of a future round of base closures.
The last BRAC round in 2005 brought more than 1,100 jobs to Wright-Patterson and the addition of the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine and the AFRL Sensors Directorate.
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