Federal budget bill includes $207.9 million for foreign pilot training center in Fort Smith (Updated)

Editor’s note: Story updated to include news of Senate approval of the budget bill.

The U.S. House approved Friday (March 22) a federal budget bill that could not only avoid a partial government shutdown but would direct $207.947 million to the ongoing process of establishing a foreign military pilot training center at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith.

The Senate early Saturday morning also voted to approve the spending package. U.S. Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., voted for the bill.

The funding approved Friday and Saturday is in addition to the $83 million included in the MilCon-VA bill approved early in March and pushed through the legislative process primarily by U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., and U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark.

The decision to place the foreign military pilot training center in Fort Smith was made in June 2021, and the U.S. Air Force’s final “record of decision” was issued in March 2023. That decision released funding to create the center. Arkansas’ Congressional delegation was able to initially secure $28 million for center design and planning.

Ebbing will be the next home for the 425th Fighter Squadron, a Republic of Singapore F-16 training unit now based at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. The pilot training center is planned to support F-16 and F-35 fighter planes purchased by Singapore, Switzerland and other countries participating in the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.

The new facility will cost at least $765 million to become fully operational, according to initial estimates. Air Force officials have said the earliest planes and pilots from foreign nations could arrive at Ebbing would be in late 2024. The full complement of 12 F-16s and 24 F-35s from various nations could arrive in fiscal year 2026 at the earliest.

“I supported the package today because I refuse to turn my back on strengthening national security, improving border security, and additional funding for Fort Smith’s critical pilot training program – all while avoiding a painful government shutdown. Although the package is far from perfect, I’m proud of the GOP’s work to secure conservative wins,” Womack said in a statement. “In a two-to-one divided government, we must take the wins where we can. I will not let the perfect get in the way of the good.”

A spokesman for Womack said the $207.9 million is for fiscal year 2024 and will fund a mix of infrastructure and “mission-specific items” – communications systems, vehicles and other equipment an active fighter base would already have – at Ebbing to support the new center.

Of the $83 million approved earlier in March, $54 million is for the construction of a three-bay hanger supporting F-35 pilot training, $22 million to build a Special Access Program Facility and Aircrew Flight Equipment Facility supporting F-35 pilot training, and $7 million to plan and design an academic training facility to support future missions at Ebbing.

The Womack spokesman also said more federal funding for the center is likely in fiscal year 2025 bills, but no formal discussions have begun on the next funding cycle.

U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, whose district includes portions of the Fort Smith metro, voted against the House bill Friday.

“There was a better way to address government funding, and it was to pass a year-long spending resolution that would have invoked the automatic cuts under the debt limit deal without the far-left earmarks from Senate Democrats while fully funding our military,” Westerman said in a statement.