By Susan A. Baird
PBN Web Editor
NEWPORT – Naval Station Newport is gearing up for a major expansion, and that will usher in big opportunities for local companies, Capt. Michel T. Poirier, commanding officer of Naval Station Newport, told Rhode Island business and political leaders at a luncheon today.
The Naval Station will become “a world-class Center of Learning Excellence, with the capacity to support the Navy’s mission by providing warfighters with the education, training, RDT&E and deployment capability to meet today’s demands and exceed tomorrow’s expectations,” Poirier said in a “vision statement” at the beginning of his PowerPoint presentation.
The Newport County Chamber of Commerce event, at the Best Western Mainstay Hotel, was co-sponsored by the R.I. Small Business Development Center. It focused on upcoming employment and economic investment activities at the Naval Station, spurred by the Pentagon’s 2005 Base Closure and Realignment recommendations.
Among other changes, the Naval Supply Corps School and Center for Service Support, currently in Athens, Ga., will be relocating to Naval Station Newport sometime in fiscal 2010 as the service moves to consolidate its training operations.
About 9,222 students at all levels – from enlisted personnel and officer candidates to post-graduate students at the Naval War College – already pass through the base each year, Poirier said in his presentation today. That throughput is expected to increase 74% (+6,847) to 16,069 students per year.
With about 5,000 workers at 42 naval and defense commands – including the War College and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport – the Naval Station already is the largest single employer in Newport County, and the third largest in the state.
“The military and defense-related industries have become a major economic engine for Rhode Island,” Keith W. Stokes, the Chamber’s executive director, said in a statement.
The defense industry as a whole employs more than 16,000 people statewide or 3 percent of Rhode Island’s employment base, the Chamber said, and nearly 25 percent of the state’s scientists, engineers and software managers. It has an annual economic impact of more than $2 billion, and generates $63 million in state tax contributions each year.
“The State of Rhode Island is facing the largest budget deficit in over 15 years, and finding means to create quality jobs and additional tax revenue has become a critical priority for us all. … The economic expansion opportunities for Rhode Island businesses large and small through the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act will be significant,” Stokes said, “and could not have happened at a better time and place.”
Naval Station Newport is home to more than 42 naval and defense commands and activities, from the historic Naval War College to the technologically advanced Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport. Additional information, including Capt. Michel T. Poirier’s full PowerPoint presentation, “Naval Station Newport: A World Class Center of Learning Excellence,” is available from the Newport County Chamber of Commerce at www.NewportChamber.com.
