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| Military installations in Texas | |
|---|---|
| Name | Military installations in Texas |
| Caption | Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth and Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth |
| Type | Military installations |
| Location | Texas, United States |
Military installations in Texas provide critical Department of Defense force projection, Air Force power, Army logistics, Navy aviation, and National Guard readiness across the Gulf Coast, Plains, and border regions. Texas hosts installations linked to World War II, the Cold War, the Global War on Terrorism, and contemporary U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy and U.S. Southern Command missions. Concentrations near San Antonio, El Paso, Fort Worth, and Houston connect to major energy and trade corridors.
Texas installations include active Air Force bases, Army posts, Naval Air Stations, Joint Bases, Reserve, National Guard facilities, and training ranges such as Red River Army Depot, Goodfellow Air Force Base, Lackland Air Force Base, Dyess Air Force Base, Fort Hood, Fort Bliss, Fort Sam Houston, NAS Corpus Christi, Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Ellington Field, Kelly Field, and the Palo Duro-area ranges. Installations intersect with federal institutions like the Defense Logistics Agency, the Missile Defense Agency, and the USNORTHCOM mission sets as well as regional partners such as Texas A&M University and University of Texas at Austin for research and workforce development.
Spanish colonial forts preceded American posts, followed by 19th‑century frontier forts such as Fort Worth, Fort Bliss, and Fort Sam Houston during the Texas Revolution and Mexican–American War. During World War I, Texas hosted training fields tied to the American Expeditionary Forces, and in World War II bases like Kelly Field and Ellington Field expanded with Army Air Forces training and Lend-Lease logistics to United Kingdom and Soviet Union partners. Cold War developments established Strategic Air Command assets at Dyess Air Force Base and Sheppard Air Force Base, integrated with NORAD alerts and Titan II or Minuteman-era support. Post‑Cold War realignment under the BRAC reshaped facilities—creating Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth and consolidating missions at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi—while Global War on Terrorism operations emphasized Fort Hood deployments and Goodfellow intelligence training partnerships.
Major active posts include Fort Bliss (air defense, Iraqi Freedom deployments), Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood), Fort Sam Houston (Army medical training and BAMC), Joint Base San Antonio components (Lackland Air Force Base, Randolph Air Force Base, Kelly Field), Dyess Air Force Base (B-1 and KC-135 operations), Sheppard Air Force Base (pilot and technical training), Naval Air Station Corpus Christi (aviation training), Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth (reserve aviation), Red River Army Depot (logistics sustainment), and Goodfellow Air Force Base (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance training). These installations host commands such as Air Education and Training Command, III Armored Corps, Eighth Air Force, First Army reserve elements, and component wings affiliated with Air Mobility Command and Pacific Air Forces rotational exercises.
Reserve centers and training sites include Texas Army National Guard armories, the Air National Guard units at Sheppard, Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, and the 220th Military Police Brigade-affiliated centers. Training ranges include the McGregor Range complex, the White Sands Missile Range-adjacent testing support, the Pecos River Training Area, and live‑fire ranges supporting National Guard Bureau mobilization. Reserve components integrate with federal units such as the U.S. Army Reserve and Marine Forces Reserve for predeployment training and civil support during Hurricane Katrina-style responses and border security missions aligned with Operation Jump Start and Operation Noble Eagle-adjacent tasks.
BRAC and historical closures removed or repurposed sites such as Kelly Air Force Base (converted to Port San Antonio), NAS Chase Field (now civilian uses), Ellington Field transitions between active duty and reserve status, and decommissioned frontier posts like Fort Concho and Fort Clark. Some former properties became National Register of Historic Places sites, urban redevelopment projects, commercial airports, or training centers operated by Texas State Technical College and municipal authorities. Environmental cleanup and land transfer processes followed closures, involving agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior.
Texas installations support strategic deterrence, power projection into the Americas, Europe, and Indo‑Pacific theaters via airlift, tanker, bomber, and armored formations. Facilities underpin operations tied to U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Central Command, and rotational deployments with NATO partners such as United Kingdom and Canada. Economically, bases generate employment, procurement, and base‑dependent communities around San Antonio, El Paso, Killeen, Wichita Falls, and Corpus Christi, and connect to defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon Technologies, and General Dynamics. State collaboration with Texas Military Department and workforce pipelines with Texas A&M University System bolster technology transfer and veteran services.
Installations contend with environmental remediation at sites impacted by PFAS firefighting foam, unexploded ordnance at ranges, endangered species habitat management, and water resource competition in arid regions near El Paso. Community concerns include noise from B-1 Lancer and A-10 Thunderbolt II operations, land use conflicts, and base encroachment amid urban growth in San Antonio and Austin. Cooperative conservation agreements with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, partnerships with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and community planning with municipal governments aim to mitigate impacts while sustaining readiness for missions tied to disaster relief and homeland support.
Category:Installations of the United States Armed Forces in Texas