WARNER ROBINS, Ga. (AP) - Robins Air Force Base in central Georgia will soon begin doing overhaul maintenance on the C-130 airplanes flown by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
The work will eventually mean about 400 new jobs, The Telegraph reported.
Brig. Gen. John Kubinec, commander of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex, made the announcement recently to the Houston County Development Authority.
"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," Kubinec said in a news release.
The C-130 Hercules, still being built at the Lockheed-Martin plant in Marietta, is known as a workhorse that is capable of a wide variety of missions.
The Navy uses the plane for transport of troops and cargo, as well as aerial refueling and close air support. The four-engine, propeller-driven plane can also be used for firefighting, weather reconnaissance, medical evacuation and search and rescue.
The first planes are expected to begin arriving at Robins in June, and then the work will gradually ramp up, the Macon newspaper reported.
By 2021 the base is expected to be doing all of the Navy's C-130 work, which will mean 400 additional jobs.
Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah, now does the C-130 programmed depot maintenance work for the Navy. The move will make Robins the primary location of depot maintenance of C-130s throughout the military, a news release from Robins stated.
"It's a direct result of the fantastic work the folks at the depot have been doing over the last several years to handle the C-130 work," said Dan Rhoades, director of strategy for the 21st Century Partnership, which works to ensure the continued viability of Robins Air Force Base.
"It certainly bodes well for the depot going into the future," Rhoades added. "This is a fantastic opportunity."
Robins Air Force Base is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta.