Sen. Martin Heinrich said funding restored to Holloman Air Force Base will help with FTU construction

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich visited White Sands Missile Range Feb. 22, where he held a press conference to discuss the National Defense Authorization Act and its impact on military installations including Holloman Air Force Base.

"It's exciting to see how all of these pieces fit together between White Sands Missile Range, what's going on at Holloman, our national labs: they are all really interconnected," Heinrich said.

The National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, for fiscal year 2022 is an annual congressional bill that provides guidance on funding U.S. defense agencies.

The National Defense Authorization Act provided $186,600,000 to projects on Holloman Air Force Base including construction on Holloman High Speed Test Track.

"(The Holloman High Speed Test Track) is one of those places where we always need to be doing the kind of science that informs our long-term capabilities and especially with the security challenges, sort of, reverting back to more of a near peer competition with Russia, with China; having those kinds of science-based facilities are. These are the places we need to be investing in now."

More:Rocket test track at Holloman Air Force Base to be updated, per federal report

Heinrich also discussed the MQ-9 training facility on Holloman Air Force Base.

The 6th Attack Squadron MQ-9 Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft Formal Training Unit (FTU) at Holloman Air Force Base, was in disrepair in 2019 when Heinrich toured it.

At the time Heinrich secured $85 million to build a new FTU, but those funds along with some other projects in the military construction fund were be rerouted to help fund President Donald Trump's effort to build a border wall.

The funding has since returned to the project with the administration of President Joe Biden, Heinrich said.

From 2019:Sen. Martin Heinrich: MQ-9 drone training facility at Holloman AFB 'is not acceptable'

"We were able to secure the original finding that was defunded by the previous administration and now we're on the verge of having that re-funded again through my work on the committee," Heinrich said.

"As long as we can get this omnibus deal together, that will be well on track again. It's pretty exciting. We're going to see a brand new facility, the kind of facility those folks should have had all along."

Heinrich serves as the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies.

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Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on Twitter at @nicmaxreporter.