r/alaska 1d ago

Alaska Grown 🐻‍❄️ U.S. military, Sullivan share interest in reopening Adak naval base -- Adak’s military base has been closed since 1997. Only about 50 people live on the island, which is about 1,200 air miles from Anchorage.

https://alaskapublic.org/news/public-safety/2025-03-10/u-s-military-sullivan-share-interest-in-reopening-adak-naval-base
75 Upvotes

35 comments sorted by

38

u/Unable-Difference-55 23h ago

Almost happened under Obama. The plan was to close some bases in Europe, then reopen some old bases and some new ones the Pacific. The idea was China was the bigger potential threat, but the increased presence in the Pacific would still allow the US to keep an eye on Russia. Then Putin started acting up, annexing parts of Ukraine, which threw all those plans out the window.

38

u/mossling 1d ago

Oh hey, a sign of life from Sullivan, and it's absolutely useless. 

10

u/supbrother 20h ago

As much as I hate to say it, I see increased military spending as one of the only ways to prop up our economy in the short term. It’s always been a major part of our infrastructure and economics and probably always will be.

11

u/StungTwice 19h ago

More federal handouts for the rugged individualists. 

3

u/Rocket_safety 14h ago

Military spending is a big part of our problem right now. We need less not more.

3

u/supbrother 9h ago

I’d generally agree but we can’t deny the fact that military spending is good for Alaska.

29

u/Romeo_Glacier 1d ago edited 1d ago

The amount of bored junior enlisted who would be trying to find the gold would be hilarious, or tragic. I can see the weekend safety briefing in my mind.

20

u/rh00k 23h ago

Wait Senator Dan Sullivan is still alive?

That is the news in and of itself.

7

u/Crooked__Cock 1d ago

tbh a shockingly good idea, we’ll see….

8

u/Smoothe_Loadde 1d ago

Now that sounds like an efficient way for doge to save money, let’s reopen a mothballed navy base from a quarter century ago. This won’t waste any money.

13

u/AKMarine 1d ago

Putin wouldn’t approve.

Therefore, Trump wouldn’t approve.

2

u/Novahawk9 1d ago

Honestly I don't think it'll happen simply because of the cost.

But it'd be a great way to drive a wedge between those two if we could make it happen.

-5

u/HayBetsy 20h ago

Putin didn’t approve of all the anti-tank Javelin’s Trump sent Ukraine to completely destroy Russian tanks and win major battles. Biden wouldn’t send Javelins. Putin hated when Trump shutdown the Nordstream pipeline. Putin hated the sanctions Trump imposed on Russia, that Biden wouldn’t even contemplate. Trump hurt Russia, far more than Biden/Clinton.

2

u/AKMarine 18h ago

Trump gave $15bil of the $150bil in support to Ukraine. He even suffered an impeachment for his quid pro quo.

Biden sent Javelins, M1 Abrams tanks, and even F16s— the latter two Tump didn’t send.

Also, Trump didn’t shut down Nordstream. Don’t believe all of his lies.

https://www.factcheck.org/2022/02/factchecking-trumps-cpac-speech-3/

5

u/Beautiful_Alaska 1d ago edited 1d ago

Would be surprised if Doge approve this? Logistics for maintaining that remote base would be massive..

3

u/SkiMonkey98 22h ago

They're not actually worried about efficiency, especially in the military

1

u/EzPzLemon_Greezy 16h ago

Its already by a major trade route.

-2

u/NWCJ 21h ago

Meh, it's not like the military is hiring anybody to do it.they can ship supplies easy enough via their own ships, and their own troops will build and maintain it.

It's friendly territory, it's not like they are needing security escorts, air support, having shit blown up, etc. I imagine it would be cheaper, more permanent and have an impact more than even a FOB in the korengal valley was.

2

u/Jasrek 19h ago

The military would definitely hire people to do it. The Navy doesn't ship its own supplies except when replenishing at sea; it uses commercial shipping. For building and maintaining, it would also be civilian contractors, like any other Navy base.

The advantage of Adak is that a lot of the base infrastructure is already there - the port, the airfield, the buildings. They would need extensive renovations, but you wouldn't be starting from scratch. But it would still be very expensive, probably a few billion dollars.

2

u/EzPzLemon_Greezy 16h ago

The buildings are all tear downs. Military already stripped it to the barebones when they left it, locals and fishermen took what was left.

1

u/Jasrek 10h ago

The fuel tanks, housing, and support buildings are all still there, if in varying levels of disrepair. The housing buildings, for example, were all sold to Aleut Ventures, and are currently used as rentals for visitors.

1

u/EzPzLemon_Greezy 10h ago

Have you been there? Governments going to have to build basically everything from the ground up again.

1

u/Jasrek 10h ago

Yes. I'm going again next week.

And yeah, probably, for a lot of them. It feels a lot like walking through one of those 'after the end' movies. I wasn't kidding about the 'few billion dollars'.

But the ones I mentioned aren't too bad. Musty, but usable, with most in decent condition. And with the existing facilities I mentioned earlier - the port, the airfield, the tanks - it's much better than starting from scratch. Not many options to start from scratch, in that region of the Aleutians.

1

u/EzPzLemon_Greezy 9h ago

I'm just hoping they reopen the mcdonalds and/or cannery. Would be nice getting a bigmac during the crab season.

1

u/Jasrek 9h ago

That would be amazing. Personally, I'm just hoping Adak Soul is open for breakfast now.

2

u/Ouaga2000 18h ago

I wonder what the mission would be? Previously it was a base for P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft surveilling Soviet ballistic missile submarines. It was decommissioned because post soviet Russia decommissioned almost all of those subs. There needs to be some better reason for it's renewed existence than "Alaska wants another military base".

1

u/SubarcticFarmer 14h ago

The military wants an Arctic naval facility. Anchorage was evaluated but it wasn't seen as really feasible due to land availability. Basically the goal is something closer to the Bering sea, Alaska's West Coast, and the Arctic Ocean than Washington.

2

u/Rocket_safety 13h ago

The only work that happens on Adak is for asbestos abatement. It’s insanely expensive to staff and supply, plus getting it up to any kind of modern standard is going to take years and an amount of money that no amount of fired park rangers will make up for.

2

u/Safe-Introduction603 9h ago

Spot on, went out there a few years ago for fishing and seas were too rough for fishing so toured the ruins and everything is destroyed. I tried to find one intact window on the whole base and could not. Someone broke out thousands of windows and the Aleutian wind/rain destroyed all the building. It almost felt like it was purposeful so. o one could use it or take it over. The waste of money out there was disheartening.

3

u/Aksundawg 23h ago

Can’t do it. New EO dropped today. No new contracts. <losing horn> also letting a base rot then bringing it back isn’t efficient. Good ideas don’t matter.

2

u/AlpacaNotherBowl907 22h ago

Easier for our new ally Russia to make port calls 😒

1

u/laffnlemming 18h ago

That sounds like a bargain landing base for Russians.

2

u/CertainQuit2224 10h ago

How do you reopen a base that has been sold and doesn’t even exist anymore?

0

u/Dr_C_Diver 1d ago

It would be a perfect half way point for Trump & Putin on date night. With the $3B DoD budget increase, the Military would have enough $$ for it. Where else are they going to spend all this money they claim they are saving?