Ceremony marks operational opening of foreign pilot training center in Fort Smith

With sounds of construction and activity in the background, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) on Friday (Sept. 20) held a “proof of concept” ceremony at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith that essentially opens the foreign pilot training center for business.

Ebbing, home to the 188th Wing in Fort Smith and co-located with the Fort Smith Regional Airport, was selected in March 2023 by the U.S. Air Force to be the long-term pilot training center supporting F-16 and F-35 fighter planes purchased by Singapore, Switzerland, Poland, Germany, Finland and other countries participating in the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. The preliminary decision to locate the training center in Fort Smith was made in June 2021.

The original plan for the base to support 36 planes has been amended to accommodate 46 fighter jets. Recent estimates indicate the cost of the base when fully operational could be up to $1 billion and produce a $450 million annual economic impact for the region and state. Estimates are that 1,500 military personnel and family members will be associated with the new center once it is fully operational. (For more than two years Talk Business & Politics has made repeated requests to military and civilian officials for documentation supporting the economic impact estimate. No documents have yet been provided.)

Friday marked the end of an “Agile Combat Employment” (ACE) exercise with the eight F-35s deployed from the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. In addition to testing power projection with the aircraft, the exercise also was designed “to demonstrate the base’s (Ebbing) capability to support sustained F-35 operations,”according to the USAF.

TEAM OF TEAMS
Col. Jay Spohn, commander of the 188th Wing, said when the center was first proposed for Fort Smith, it seemed “completely impossible” to have it ready for foreign pilots in just three years. He said it took a “team of a bunch of different teams,” including from state and local officials, to make it happen. He also praised members of the 188th, who have a primary mission other than the training center, for stepping up when necessary.

“They said, ‘I’ll take care of it,” and then they figured it out,” Spohn said of 188th members when asked to help.

Fort Smith Mayor George McGill told the large crowd gathered in an Ebbing hangar that when the A-10 Thunderbolt left in 2014, “the skies went silent and we wondered (if) we will ever see the big birds fly again, and now here we are.”

Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, commander of the USAF Air Education and Training Command (AETC), said there is more work to do, but the operational ceremony marks the reality that it is possible to have a fully functioning foreign pilot training center at Ebbing.

“Today is a milestone, a really challenging milestone, and one among many. But we are on time, on schedule,” Robinson said.

In an interview after the event, Robinson said F-35s from Poland are set to arrive at Ebbing in mid- to late-December, with F-35s from Finland to follow soon after. He also said there will be more USAF exercises with the F-35 that will include temporary time at Ebbing. He said there is no schedule set for the exercises, but “you can expect to see them back here.”

‘UPHILL BATTLE’
Also in a post-ceremony interview, U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., told Talk Business & Politics that Friday is a relief because it was an “uphill battle” getting the USAF to select Ebbing and then obtaining funding for the training center. Boozman and U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, had lead roles in securing funding for the new training center.

“It’s remarkable that we’ve gotten as far as we have and, again, it was just everybody doing the things they needed to do to get us in this stage. Most people didn’t feel like we had a chance in actually securing this mission. It’s a huge deal. Not only are we in this situation, but the countries that are coming here are very very excited about it,” Boozman said. “It’s been a real uphill battle, and it just shows what you can get done if everybody is moving in the right direction and working hard.”

Boozman said he is confident an ongoing federal budget battle between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives will be resolved, but it could prove a problem for national defense funding, including the training center, if not.

“The area that hurts the most if we don’t get it done in a reasonable time is defense. So there is always concern, but we are going to roll our sleeves up and make sure that we get it done so that we can continue the funding, because that could have an impact,” Boozman said.

Ebbing had a manned aircraft mission between 1953 and June 2014. In 1988 the F-16A Fighting Falcon replaced the F-4C, and in 2000 the F-16s were upgraded to the F-16 A variant. A last-minute decision by the Base Realignment and Closure Committee in 2005 replaced the F-16 with the A-10. On April 14, 2007, the 188th received its first A-10. It was announced in 2012 that the A-10 Thunderbolt fighters of the 188th would be lost, and the unit’s mission would change to an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) mission. The final A-10 departed Ebbing in June 2014.