Time to talk up NAS Meridian
By Staff
March 31, 2004
With the 2005 round of military base closures looming, now is the perfect time to highlight some of the vital missions performed by Naval Air Station Meridian. We'll be writing much more about NAS Meridian's contributions to national security in the coming months, but here's something to chew on:
NAS Meridian "is the Navy's premier initial jet training installation," so designated by the Navy itself last year.
NAS Meridian's training mission "is vital to the naval aviation and national security, annually providing about 60 percent of the Navy and Marine Corps strike aviators."
NAS Meridian's airspace is ideally suited for the basic maneuvers associated with the T-45C, the Navy's main jet trainer. Arranged access to airfields in Memphis, Montgomery, New Orleans, Columbus, Greenwood and Meridian give student pilots a look at different approaches and traffic patterns during early stages of training.
Commissioned in 1961, NAS Meridian was designed from the ground up as a modern jet training base. For example, the airfield is about 4.5 miles from the housing complex and administrative offices, which enhances the safety and conduct of routine operations while optimizing airfield security. Also, parallel, offsetting runways extend from a maintenance center which maximizes operational efficiency and enabling simultaneous launch and recovery operations.
With 2,120 military and 1,607 civilian employees and an annual payroll of more than $90 million in 2003, NAS Meridian is clearly a major player in the local economy.
But in the 2005 round of base closures, a base's local economic contribution is a secondary consideration to how well the base fits in with the U.S. military's new strategy for fighting wars.
We believe NAS Meridian can stand on its own merits as an absolutely vital link in keeping America the strongest and most powerful nation on Earth, defending our freedoms and protecting our cherished way of life.
We all need to work together to protect NAS Meridian.
