The Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville is again a finalist to be the home of the 1,040-plus staff headquarters of the nation’s new Space Command, Gov. Kay Ivey said today.
The city was one of three finalists for the headquarters last year when another look was ordered. The new list has six names on it including Redstone Arsenal. The competition was judged by a detailed list of needs and don’t-needs the military has developed for decisions like this.
The current finalists are Redstone; Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska; Patrick Air Force Base, Florida; Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; Port San Antonio, Texas. The headquarters is currently located at the Colorado Air Force base and will remain there for at least the next six years.
The Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce said today that Huntsville has all the requirements the Air Force is looking for and all the elements to make the new command successful.
“Redstone provides all the assets necessary to assure the US Space Command’s success, including military housing, health care, childcare, commissary, and personnel and logistics support. The region also has a very favorable cost of living, being among the lowest of any technology-based military communities,” the chamber said in a statement. “The support structure required to successfully execute the mission of the Space Command is here.”
“Redstone is home to many of the nation’s key space and defense assets,” the chamber statement said, “including the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Strategic Forces Command headquarters, the majority of the Missile Defense Agency’s operations and a wide portfolio of specialized R&D capabilities addressing all aspects of space, missile and missile defense endeavors.
“Our region boasts the highest per capita concentration of engineering workforce in the U.S. Our universities offer research resources specifically tailored to address the most challenging problems facing both our military and other technology-centric agencies.”
___
(c) 2020 Alabama Media Group
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
