McSally, Arizona colleagues seek Army expansion at home-state aviation training site

As the U.S. Army examines how to balance support to allied partners and against its aviation readiness, U.S. Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) and a bipartisan, bicameral Arizona contingent this week requested that the Secretary of the Army consider expanding foreign military sales training at the Western Army Aviation Training Site (WAATS) in their home state.

“We wanted to make you aware of an opportunity to enhance the Army’s aviation modernization and readiness initiatives while supporting the National Defense Strategy’s mandate to strengthen alliances and attract future partners,” wrote Sen. McSally and her colleagues in a June 10 letter sent to U.S. Army Secretary Mark Esper.

Using WAATS to complement Apache fighter pilot training at the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence (USAACE) could help alleviate future capacity issues that are expected at the USACCE, according to the lawmakers’ letter, which pointed out that the center’s 63 training seats available in fiscal year 2018 are expected to more than double in the coming years.

“WAATS has the equipment, personnel, base operations support, and subject matter expertise necessary to support the Apache foreign military sales training program,” wrote Sen. McSally and her colleagues. “Using this existing Army facility to augment current training will allow USAACE to continue to provide foreign military sale instruction without having to sacrifice the training needs of the U.S. Army’s Aviation branch.”

Sen. McSally and the Arizona contingent also noted that leveraging such training at WAATS “will ensure no American or allied pilot will lack proper training or skills because of throughput problems at one training installation.”

Among the seven other lawmakers joining Sen. McSally in signing the letter were U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ).