Press Release: The proposed federal budget for the next fiscal year includes a total of $457.7 million in construction projects at Washington State military bases, according to U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks.
The largest portion of the Pentagon's construction program is associated with the continued upgrading and expansion of Fort Lewis to house three of the the Army's seven Stryker Brigades at the post. In the current budget year, $205 million is being spent on construction projects at Fort Lewis. Next year's budget proposes to spend another $330 million -- most of it related to Stryker brigade operations.
"The Stryker Brigade is the Army's transformational concept that has proven itself as a rapidly deployable force, capable of operating against the full spectrum of military threats including operations in recent years in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Rep. Dicks, who serves as a member of the House Defense Appropriations and the Military Construction/VA Appropriations subcommittees. "These three Fort Lewis-based brigades are an integral part of the Army of the future, and we are determined to equip them with the operational and training facilities they need as quickly as possible," he said.
Also funded in the Pentagon's proposed military construction budget for the upcoming 2009 Fiscal Year is another increment -- the 5th of 7 scheduled years of funding -- of a large new weapons storage and production complex at Submarine Base Bangor, which is home to the Navy's west coast fleet of Trident ballistic missile submarines as well as two of the Trident subs that were recently converted to carry conventional cruise missiles.
Military construction spending in Washington has increased sharply in recent years as a result of the designation of Fort Lewis as the post where the Stryker concept was being pioneered and as the U.S. has shifted its defense posture to address Pacific theater security threats more aggressively, the congressman noted.
The complete budget request for military construction projects in Washington State for Fiscal Year 2009 is as follows:
