The Air Force is committed to rebuilding Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, which was damaged last fall when Hurricane Michael hit the Florida panhandle.
Speaking at a symposium last week at Florida State University-Panama City, John Henderson, assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment, and energy, told attendees that despite the absence of supplemental funding, the work to rebuild the base continues.
“The Air Force is committed to the administration’s goal to rebuild Tyndall Air Force Base,” Henderson said. “It was always a fighter base and our intent is to keep it a fighter base. Our nation has an opportunity to be there for our Airmen, for our mission, for our bases that support our mission and for the communities that support our bases.”
Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson had announced that all new rebuilding efforts at Tyndall AFB and Offutt AFB, Nebraska, would stop by May 1 without additional funding. But the order would only prevent new contracts from being started – it does not apply to contracts already funded for clean-up and repair efforts.
“We have had tremendous support from the (Department of Defense), the administration and congressional members, but that has not translated into significant supplemental funding required to recover from the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Michael and the flooding in the Midwest,” Henderson said.
While the Air Force waits for additional funding, rebuild plans are moving ahead. The hurricane damaged every building on the installation. Air Force leaders are looking to collaborate with the private sector to rebuild Tyndall AFB into a state-of-the-art base.
“The Air Force knows there is much more technology available in the commercial arena and we asked for industry’s help to identify innovative concepts we can use for the reconstruction,” Brig. Gen. Patrice Melancon, Tyndall Program Management Office executive director, said. “We had 68 different entities that responded and submitted 98 white papers covering 132 concepts.”
Base reconstruction is grouped into six categories: smart basing, resiliency, master planning, design and construction, contract acquisition and program management.
Col. Brent Hyden, Tyndall PMO director, provided a base overview, summarized installation damage from Hurricane Michael and highlighted recovery efforts and facility assessments.
“Secretary Wilson recommended to Congress in December that we use supplemental funding to rebuild Tyndall (AFB) as the future home of three F-35 squadrons and the preferred alternative to host 24 MQ-9 unmanned aircraft,” Col. Brian Laidlaw, 325th Fighter Wing commander, told attendees. “We need your help to rebuild not the base we had, but to rebuild the base we will need. Today we are getting missions done with short-term temporary fixes all across the base. We look forward to partnering with many of you as we look to transition from those short-term fixes to more long-term sustainable solutions.”