Members of a state-wide advisory board on federal facilities spent the day Friday at Patuxent River Naval Air Station. They spent the morning touring the base and the afternoon getting briefings from Navy and community leaders at Frank Knox Training Center.
The tour included stops at Atlantic Test Range, Anechoic Chamber, Manned Flight Simulator and Joint Strike Fighter facility.
For the afternoon session, U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, Rep. Steny Hoyer, Calvert Commissioner President Susan Shaw (R) and St. Mary’s Commissioner President Francis “Jack” Russell (D) spoke and presentations were given by NAS Commanding Officer Capt. Ted Mills, NAWC-AD Executive Officer Gary Kessler, and representatives from the bases small business, and business and partnership offices.
Sen. Cardin said, “We are proud of the men and women in the military who do what you do.” Cardin said he recently visited F-35 plant in Fort Worth, TX and talked to one of the pilots who praised the aircraft. “This is a national treasure what you have here. It is important to our national security,” he boasted.
Cardin cautioned about the ongoing debates about the deficit. “We have to get the budget in order. The most important thing we can do (for the military) is predictability,” he concluded.
Cardin praised the teamwork among legislative leaders in Maryland in support of the defense industry and particularly Hoyer’s leadership. Hoyer talked about previous efforts to save and expand the work being done in St. Mary’s County but he cautioned about possible BRAC’s (Base Realignment and Closure Commissions) looming in the future.
Capt. Mills talked about infrastructure issues on base, with many buildings dating back to when the base opened in 1943. He also said there was a shortage of space leading to the movement to create leased space on base. Repeated attempts to get a copy of Capt. Mills’s power point presentation to present more information on it were unsuccessful.
Kessler talked about the base’s workforce needs. He said there were slightly more than 600 civilian hires in FY 2011 and a similar number are needed this year and 700 to 800 yearly well into the future. The high technology skill sets needed to support future work at Pax River include:
· Unmanned Systems
· Next Generation Aircraft
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