At a Houston County Development Authority meeting Wednesday morning, Brigadier General John Kubinec, Commander of the Air Logistics Complex at Robins Air Force Base, announced new work coming to the base.
The general announced that the first Navy C-130 aircraft would come to Robins for maintenance work in June 2018, according to people at Wednesday’s meeting.
In an audio recording of the presentation provided to 13WMAZ, Kubinec said all of the Navy and Marine Corp’s C-130 work would be handled at Robins by 2021.
“We will truly be, Robins will truly be the C-130 maintenance, repair, and overhaul center,” Kubinec said on the recording. “That is tremendous."
Kubinec said by 2021, they would work on about 15-20 C-130s a year for the Navy and Marines. That work would continue along with their existing Air Force C-130 workload.
The work will bring 400 new jobs by the year 2021, according to Angie Gheesling. Gheesling is Executive Director of the Development Authority.
For Ken McCall who owns McCall's on Commercial Circle just a mile from the Base, it was good news.
“Well I hope it'll be very beneficial for us. You know I'm not sure how long those 400 jobs will take to get on line, but in time that will have a direct impact on what we do daily,” McCall said near the end of Wednesday’s lunch rush.
McCall says at least 60 percent of his day-to-day customers are Base employees or Active Duty military.
He says the news provides a sense of stability.
“Having those extra jobs has really, it does help us breathe easy, because in this area we are so dependent on our Base,” McCall added.
Gheesling says growth at Robins helps across the region.
“Of course it spills over, our service industry of course benefits greatly whenever we have more jobs coming in to Robins. And so, you'll see a boost there right away,” Gheesling said after the meeting on Wednesday.
She says the job growth will only increase Robins nearly $2.9 billion economic impact from fiscal year 2016.
And besides that, McCall says it adds to the neighborhood pride.
“Robins was able to pull that mission in and expand it for all of the C-130s,” McCall said.
Public Affairs at Robins Air Force Base provided WMAZ this statement:
"The Navy C-130 Programmed Depot Maintenance work currently being done at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, by the Ogden Air Logistics Complex will transition to the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex in the near future. This projected workload will bring about 400 new jobs over the next 5 years to the ALC and make Robins the primary location for C-130 depot maintenance for all of the DOD. "This is a great opportunity for our professional workforce and we welcome this opportunity to provide first-class sustainment of the C-130 Hercules fleet," said Brig. Gen. John Kubinec, Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex commander."