Tyndall 2.0 Building Momentum, Providing Opportunities

by: Tom Neubauer, Bay Defense Alliance

The $5 billion rebuild of Tyndall Air Force Base, the “installation of the future” continues to be a leading topic of conversation across the Air Force and throughout our community. Amazing progress has occurred since October 10, 2018, when the future of Tyndall was in question. In the days and weeks that followed the storm, Tyndall was visited by senior leaders from the Air Force, Congress and the administration. The trust relationships built by the Bay Defense Alliance over nearly three decades offered opportunities for open communication with senior leaders in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. The decision of the Air Force to rebuild Tyndall AFB was strongly supported by Florida’s congressional delegation and leadership at all levels. Dr. Neal Dunn organized visits by key decision-makers, began working on an emergency supplemental immediately after the storm and helped author the legislation. Dr. Dunn reached out to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Military Construction. Following her visits to Tyndall and NSA-PC with Dr. Dunn, the rebuild effort became a bi-partisan initiative. H.R. 268 (Supplemental appropriations act) was successfully placed on the calendar and approved on January 22, 2019. The legislation resulted in a $4.1 billion emergency supplemental for Tyndall.

The Air Force commitment to rebuild and legislation to provide funding by Congress were just the beginning of a lengthy process. The National Environmental Policy Act would require a thorough environmental study to gather the information needed to influence a final Record of Decision or “ROD” for the bed down of F-35s at Tyndall. The EIS process began with a public notice in the federal register in November 2019. A draft EIS was published for public review June 19, 2020 and the final ROD was signed and formalized by the Air Force in March 2021, a remarkably quick timeline for a study of this size and scope.

This unique rebuild process included three Industry Day events beginning in January 2019, where over 400 leaders at each event representing industry, academia and the federal government shared ideas, plans and updates on progress with the community. Additionally, Tyndall rebuild innovation exercises were hosted by AFWERX in Nevada, where Bay Defense Alliance members were afforded the opportunity to share and critique innovative ideas developed by experts in energy, smart technologies, acquisition, communications, resiliency and cybersecurity to help accelerate the rebuild of Tyndall.

Tyndall Air Force Base

Questions from our community about the rapidly growing workforce, construction timeline, and additive missions were recently addressed in a presentation by 325th Fighter Wing Vice Commander Colonel Christopher “Roller” Peters at the July 2021 Chamber First Friday event. For those readers who have not had an opportunity to visit Tyndall in recent months, the demolition and new construction activity occurring behind the fence is impressive. Colonel Peters presented a notional six-year rebuild timeline estimating the anticipated number of personnel, including contractors, military members, defense civilians and families expected to be working on the installation as the project nears completion in 2027. The anticipated construction workforce could approach 3,500 workers by mid-2024.

Orchestrating the rebuild of an installation that will incorporate leading technologies, efficiencies and resilience requires innovative leadership. The Tyndall AFB rebuild is managed by the Tyndall Program Management Office (PMO). This office works hand-inhand with the 325th fighter wing to reshape Tyndall into a model of sustainability, technology and adaptability for the Air Force and the Department of Defense. The Tyndall PMO is part of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC) and the Air Force Installation/Management Support Center (AFIMSC.) The Tyndall PMO includes 50+ specialized personnel directing more than 40 military construction projects and 260 facility sustainment restoration and modernization projects. The Director of the Tyndall PMO, Colonel Travis Leighton, is responsible for the multi-year planning, programming, design and construction effort, also focused on the bed down of 72 operational F-35 aircraft, beginning in the fall of 2023. According to the environmental impact statement, three squadrons of F-35s will bring an estimated 2200 personnel plus approximately 2992 dependents, including 1496 children. Progress milestones are being continually updated on the AFIMSC Tyndall Program Management Office website: https://www.afimsc.af.mil/ TyndallPMO/

Tyndall 2.0 will offer greater opportunities for future mission growth due to designs that improve resilience and accommodate capacity for next-generation weapons systems, which may depend on unfettered access to the range space needed for training airmen and testing weapons. In January 2018, the community celebrated the selection of Tyndall as the preferred location for a wing of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), including 24 MQ-9s. The strategic basing initiative was referred to as “RPA Base Y.” The capacity of our community to accommodate the RPA wing was confirmed in the environmental impact statement, which projected 1,900 additional personnel, plus 3,234 dependents of which 1,292 would be children. However, by June 2020, the Air Force decided to pursue a successor to the MQ-9 aircraft with enhanced strike, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. Bay Defense Alliance members met with the Air Force leadership on November 16, 2020 to discuss the future of the Base Y initiative. Essentially, the Air Force confirmed a process underway to consider the next generation of unmanned systems, referred to notionally as MQ-X. For all the same reasons Tyndall was selected as the preferred location for RPA Base Y, there is a reasonable probability Tyndall would be considered the ideal location to host the next generation RPA as well. The plan is articulated by Lt. Gen David Nahom, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, who told a Senate subcommittee that the Air Force proposes to retire some ISR aircraft in order to invest in new capabilities. “We have to look to the future… eventually, the Air Force intends to field a family of systems to replace legacy ISR capabilities.” The Bay Defense Alliance will continue to track the selection process and any follow-on strategic basing initiatives anticipated in the future.

Meanwhile, the F-22 Formal Training Unit has been fully operational, however the aircrafts remain at Eglin AFB, while pilots continue academics and simulator training at Tyndall. While the situation is not ideal, the 325th Fighter Wing has successfully continued its important mission of producing Raptor pilots. A successful EIS landed the F-22 FTU at Joint Base Langley- Eustis in Virginia. On June 25, 2021, the Air Force published the March 2021 record of decision to relocate the F-22 FTU and associated T-38 aircraft to Langley. The Air Force is awaiting the completion of a tactical air study launched by the USAF Chief of Staff early in 2021, before solidifying a timeline for planned force structure moves.

Bottom line: The rebuild of Tyndall AFB continues to gain momentum. Structures have been removed and several of the 44 new construction projects are underway. This $5 billion project creates tremendous opportunity for large and small businesses in our community. We can rest assured that Tyndall Air Force Base, Naval Support Activity and Coast Guard Station Panama City as well as the USCG Offshore Patrol Cutter personnel will continue to provide a vital contribution to national defense, while supporting 1/3 of the Bay County economy at a rate of $3.2 billion annually. In 2019 the Association of Defense Communities recognized Bay County as a Great American Defense Community with good reason. When we appreciate and support our military neighbors, we are supporting the defense of our nation.