“Alabama won. They are looking at that,” said McCarthy, adding that he anticipates there will be a competition if the decision on Alabama is reversed.
McCarthy’s visit came the day after the Ohio House of Representatives passed a resolution sponsored by State Rep. Brian Lampton, R-Beavercreek, calling on Congress to designate Wright-Patterson as the permanent location for the Space Command headquarters.
“Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is a cornerstone of my district and the state of Ohio,” Lampton said in a news release issued by his office. “It is no question that Wright-Patterson sets the tone for aviation and aerospace innovation and workforce development in our state and country.”
McCarthy on Wednesday was joined by U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, and U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Cincinnati, at the news conference held at the National Aviation Hall of Fame.
Turner said U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall is currently reviewing an earlier decision to place the command in Huntsville, Alabama, or to keep it at its current location at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs.
“That isn’t an open process. It’s not determining where it should go,” Turner said. ”It’s in the process of determining: should it go to Huntsville (or) should it not go to Huntsville?”
He said he has spoken to Kendall about the Space Command and the administration could choose Alabama or Colorado as the permanent location, or reopen competition.
“If he does open up the competition certainly we’ll be vigorously competing for it,” Turner said.
Earlier this month U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, President Joe Biden, Kendall and Chief of Space Operations General B. Chance Saltzman calling for the command to be in Ohio, most logically at Wright-Patterson.
“It’s clear the (Biden) administration will not go back to Alabama,” Brown said after announcing he’d sent the letter.
Wright-Patterson was not a finalist in the competition for the command launched after the U.S. Space Force was established in 2019.
Wright-Patterson is the state’s largest single-site employer and houses much of the Air Force’s logistics, research and intelligence work.
In May the Air Force announced Wright-Patterson would get a new space-focused intelligence mission and about 90 new jobs with the arrival of a new unit, the 76th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron.
On Wednesday McCarthy, Turner and Wenstrup toured the base and had a security briefing at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, where Turner said they were updated on major issues, including China and Russia.
“The reason I continue to come here is the work the men and women do. This is essential for the defense and the future of America,” said McCarthy, who has visited the base several times. “Every time I leave Wright-Patterson I feel better about where America stands today and, more importantly, that America is prepared for the future.”
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