White has spent some about eight years of his career serving at Wright-Patterson, from July 2011 to July 2014, then from June 2018 until December 2023.
The Senate received White’s nomination for the promotion and new position in mid-November and it was referred to the Senate’s Armed Services Committee.
“I am sure that the people of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base are excited about what they are going to be able to achieve with his additional leadership,” Turner, who has long advocated for the base, told the Dayton Daily News.
“He’s an excellent choice,” the Dayton Republican said. “He comes with both weapons systems knowledge and an understanding of how to move ingenuity forward into weapons systems, more critical mission systems for the Air Force, including the importance of the contributions of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to the central successes of the Air Force.”
Turner is familiar with White’s career “which gives me great confidence in what he’s going to do in the future.”
White’s nomination comes as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is seeking to transform how the military acquires weapons, with the prime goal of speeding new capabilities to those who fly and fight in combat. The new post would oversee critical weapons systems now overseen by teams at Wright-Patterson, including the B-21 Raider stealth bomber, the new F-47 fighter jet, the VC-25B presidential aircraft and more.
But a Pentagon spokesperson told the Dayton Daily News in September that the department’s plan is for the Air Force acquisition workforce to “remain where it is.”
Asked if his nomination bodes well for the base, Turner said: “The goal of this position is to allow the acquisition process to work more freely, to permit cutting-edge technology to get to the warfighter, and he (White) understands some of the impediments that the acquisitions processes have experienced.”
The base is home to key acquisition missions such as the Air Force Materiel Command and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. It is also home to the 88th Air Base Wing, the largest air base wing in the Air Force with more than 5,000 officers and enlisted airmen.
Before Trump administration efforts to shrink the federal workforce, the base had about 38,000 civilian and military employees last year.
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