By Alex Brown, Inside INdiana Business
CRANE, Ind. – Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., on Monday applauded a decision by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao to assign a one-star Reserve Flag Officer to Naval Weapons Station Crane in southern Indiana.
The officer will be assigned to NWS Crane no later than Oct. 1, according to a news release from Banks’ office.
The position will be responsible for integrating the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Sea Launch Cruise Missile, or SLCM-N, and Conventional Prompt Strike, or CPS, weapons systems onto surface ships and submarines.
Banks’s office said the senator met with Hegseth in July to advocate for a one-star position at Crane. He also sent a letter requesting the relocation of the SLCM-N and CPS program offices and the one-star position overseeing them to Crane.
“The duty station for this position is currently in the overcrowded Washington Navy Yard,” Banks said in his letter. “Moving this position and program office to the more affordable Crane, Indiana could save DOD over $2 million per year while reducing congestion at the Navy Yard.”
In the news release, Banks said the assignment represents “the most significant expansion of NWS Crane since it’s creation.”
“It will bring game changing new authorities and manpower to our state and further cements Indiana as the heart of America’s hypersonic enterprise,” he said.
Naval Weapons Station Crane, which until recently was known as Naval Support Activity Crane, is the third-largest Naval installation in the world, encompassing more than 62,000 acres primarily in Martin County, with over 6,000 employees and contractors on-site.
Established in 1941, the installation is home to the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, and Crane Army Ammunition Activity.