In The News

MDJ:

Georgia’s federal lawmakers submitted an open letter Friday to U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall lobbying for more C-130J aircraft to come to Marietta’s Dobbins Air Reserve Base.

Led by U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, the delegation is hoping for an additional eight planes to be added to the base’s stables.

The Air Force plans to replace eight C-130H planes — the previous model — with C-130Js. That work will be done at Lockheed Martin’s Marietta plant, where the planes have been built since the 1950s.

But where the planes will reside remains to be seen, a spokesperson for Loudermilk’s office said, as the Air Force is considering four potential locations. The 94th Airlift Wing at Dobbins currently operates eight of the aircraft.

“There is no place else in America with closer ties, both operational and industrial, to the historic and indispensable C-130 and all its variants than the Marietta and north Atlanta community,” the letter reads.

“We believe that Dobbins ARB offers tremendous advantages, and encourage you to fully consider this critical installation as the future site of the C-130J aircraft,” it added.

The letter was signed by all fourteen of Georgia's U.S. representatives and both of its senators. READ MORE