US Central Command officials plan to conduct a $180 million renovation and expansion of the CENTCOM headquarters at MacDill AFB, Fla., according to the Tampa Tribune. The Florida newspaper posits the big bucks signal a “lengthy future” for CENTCOM in Tampa, considering MacDill survived BRAC 2005. The expansion would increase CENTCOM holdings from its present 187,000 square-foot facility to about 330,000 square feet. Officials tell the Tribune that the command has suffered from failing infrastructure and tight quarters for years. The building should commence late this year.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…