Fort Smith mayor not worried about air base funding amid possible government shutdown concerns
FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — The threat of a temporary government shutdown looms which could mean a delay on a special project at the Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith, but the city’s mayor believes it won’t see a major negative impact.
“Ebbing air base was selected to be the home of the Foreign Military Sales Mission. And that’s where we sell foreign aircraft to our foreign allies,” said Fort Smith Mayor George McGill.
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According to McGill, construction is already underway at the air base.
“We agreed to add 1,300 feet to our runway here in Fort Smith, which makes it one of the longest you’ll find anywhere, in order to accommodate that mission,” said McGill.
With the air base being chosen for the Foreign Military Sales Program, McGill says it will help Fort Smith economically.
“This is easily the largest economic development piece in Fort Smith’s history in the sense that they want to house the training station here and all of that in Northwest Arkansas,” said McGill.
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McGill says he isn’t worried government funding concerns will negatively impact the project.
“The hope is the shutdown doesn’t last a significant period of time to ultimately impact the progress that we are making,” said McGill.
McGill also says the air base will be training pilots at a simulation center and the Singapore Air Force will have a quadrant at the base.
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