Battle Creek Enquirer:
U.S. Sen. Gary Peters has urged the Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency to select Fort Custer as the site of a missile defense system.
Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, wrote a letter to Vice Admiral James D. Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency, touting the Fort Custer Training Center’s benefits for the mission: its access to major highways, the W.K. Kellogg Air National Guard Base’s 11,000-foot runway and its recognition for environmental stewardship.
Fort Custer is one of four sites under consideration for a ground-based missile defense system as the Defense Department considers creating an East Coast Site for protection against attacks from Iran or other threats.
Peters’ office said the project would bring more than 2,000 jobs to Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties.
Peters toured the Air Guard base for the first time in April. As many as 60 silos could be built on 1,200 acres at Fort Custer.
Right now, Fort Custer is undergoing an environmental review that should be completed later next year. The Defense Department has not decided whether the missile program is needed.
Camp Ravenna in Ohio, Fort Drum in New York and Portsmouth Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Training Area in Maine also are in the running.
There are two sites in the U.S. — Fort Greeley in Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California — for ground-based interceptors…
