RAFB PROJECT COULD BRING JOBS
February 18, 2002
Originally published in The Telegraph

More than 500 acres of woods and wetlands — much of it unusable — has sat undisturbed for years along the northern edge of Robins Air Force Base.

Owned by the state and operated as a wildlife management area, the land was set aside for hunting and other recreational uses. And now few people, including some state officials, even know how to access this remote piece of land.

But some of the Air Force jets that roar above this property could someday stop here for routine maintenance.

Some Middle Georgia legislators, economic development leaders, local government officials and others have spent months pushing a project that would put airplane hangars on the land in a multimillion-dollar plan to help protect Robins' future.

It's an idea suggested by officials at Robins.

George Falldine, director of plans and programs at the base, said officials there were talking about a year ago with community leaders when they first discussed how the hangars would help.

"It's sort of something that kind of evolved," Falldine said. "They don't have the kinds of hangars here that are equipped to do the heavy maintenance."

Heavy maintenance on modified Boeing 707s flown by the 93rd Air Control Wing at Robins is being done by-defense contractor Northrop Grumman at sites in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.

The Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or Joint STARS, planes are used to pinpoint enemy positions on the ground and direct attacks.

For now, the Joint STARS planes have to be flown to these other states for maintenance, which extends the time aircraft are out of service.

"If in fact you could do the heavy maintenance physically located here, you don't have to fly the airplane somewhere else to get heavy maintenance, so you save the costs associated with ferrying the plane," Falldine said.

So retired Maj. Gen. Ron Smith, a consultant for the Robins booster organization 21st Century Partnership, and Morgan Law, executive director of the Houston County Development Authority, are piloting an effort to bring that work to Middle Georgia.
Northrop Grumman officials have said they're interested in doing the work here, but first they'll need a facility. The company won't say yet how many jobs the move could bring, but Law and others put the number around 70 to 80.

Smith and Law say the best way to bring the Joint STARS work to Warner Robins is for local governments — through their development authorities— to band together and acquire the land north of the base.

Next, the plan calls for them sell bonds, build a maintenance complex and then lease it to Northrop Grumman. The lease payments would pay off the bonds.

No one knows yet how much the project may cost but estimates range from $20 million to $40 million The complex itself would consist of four hangars, a taxiway and maintenance center.

But first they need a place to build it.

Supporters have targeted the 544-acre tract on the north edge of Robins primarily because it borders the area of the base where the Joint STARS are planes are kept.

Once the project was finished, the planes would travel only a few hundred yards instead of hundreds of miles for maintenance.
But this land is owned by the state and operated by the Department of Natural Resources as a portion of the Oaky Woods Wildlife Management Area. It’s a recreational area that can be used for activities such as hunting – for those who can get to it.

Paul Michael, chief of real estate for the department, said the last he heard, you couldn't even get on the land without going through the base.

For more information contact Pat Topping with Macon Economic Development Commission.

478-621-2030
P.O. Box 169
Macon, Georgia 31202