Construction to begin at RAFB hangar for Marine choppers

July 2008

By Wayne Crenshaw

Construction soon will begin on a project to prepare for the arrival of two Marine Corps helicopter squadrons in early 2010.

Robins Air Force Base held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for construction of a 40,000-square-foot hangar to house the Marine Light/Attack Helicopter Squadron 773.   Also coming to the base is Marine Aircraft Group 49, which will occupy facilities being vacated by the 19th Air Refueling Group. The construction project includes renovation of those facilities. The hangar is located near the 19th Air Refueling Group facilities. The helicopter units are relocating from Naval Air Station Atlanta under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process.

Construction is expected to begin in about three to four weeks, said Marine Col. Lance Maffett, Base Realignment and Closure Commission coordinator with Naval Air Station Atlanta, which is scheduled to close. The units will not move until the work is completed, Maffett said. The transfer is expected to occur by March 2010, bringing 150 active Marines and 300 Marines Reserves to the base.

"It's very exciting to see the U.S. Marine Corps joining our team," said Maj. Gen. Tom Owen, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center commander.

BRAC has budgeted $27 million for the transfer, Maffett said, but he said he expects the cost will be less than that. The contractor on the $16.5 million construction project is New South Construction Co. of Atlanta. Nine helicopters are expected to transfer to the base, making it the first time a chopper unit has been given a permanent home at Robins. The move will bring six AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters, which are exclusively attack helicopters, and three UH-1Ns Hueys, which are primarily used for search and rescue, command and control and maritime special operations. 

A key advantage of being housed at Robins, Maffett said, is that the squadrons can deploy directly out of the base, something they couldn't do from Naval Air Station Atlanta. On one previous deployment, he said, the squadrons spent a month at Robins Air Force Base getting ready to deploy. "We are right here where we are going to deploy out of," he said.

Once the helicopters relocate, residents should be able to spot them in the air on a regular basis. Maffett said the units will typically take two to three flights per day.

In the past five years, the squadrons have been deployed three times to Afghanistan and two times to Iraq, Maffett said.

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