BRAC to decide on Bradley Air Guard Base

With the sub base in Groton taken off the chopping block, state officals will learn the fate of the Bradley Air Guard Base today.

From the New York Newsday

Two days after the Groton submarine base was saved from closure, state officials turned their attention to the proposed realignment of the Air National Guard base at Bradley International Airport.

The federal Base Closure and Realignment Commission was expected to vote Friday on the Pentagon's plan to move nine of the 17 A-10 Thunderbolts at the Bradley base to Barnes Municipal Airport in Westfield, Mass. The rest of the Bradley planes would be retired.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell indicated Thursday that Brig. Gen. Thaddeus J. Martin, commander of the Connecticut National Guard, was working on a compromise that could keep some of the planes in Connecticut. She said she was encouraged that the commission agreed to look at a similar compromise that would keep open the jet training base in Oceana, Va.

"They were given a charge by the commission members to come up with a compromise, come up with something else that may work and they did that. I will tell you that General Martin said to me he was very encouraged by watching General Principi especially on the Oceana issue and giving them more time frame," Rell said. "He thought that was an excellent compromise. So he felt that if he was reasonable in that area that he may very well be as far as Air National Guard as well."