Isakson: Moody Air Force Base candidate for new mission, 434 new jobs (Columbus: military, design)

[Airforceguy]

The U.S. Air Force is considering Moody Air Force Base as a potential new location to bring its mission control and launch and recovery units in support of the new MQ-9 Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft Wing, Isakson announced. Out of an original 19 bases across the country that were candidates for the mission, five remain, including Moody, he said.

Winning the new mission could help safeguard Georgia's military huge economy. The state's bases are at risk of U.S. military base downsizings expected from the Pentagon between 2019 and 2021. On Aug. 30, a panel of Georgia legislators was told the U.S. Army's Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., and all other bases in Georgia are potentially at risk. Read that story here.

The Air Force will continue to evaluate the remaining five bases for the MQ-9 mission, reducing it down to two final locations early next year. Final decisions are expected in summer 2017 and the winter of 2018, Isakson said.

"I'm always excited by the potential to bring new missions to Georgia's military bases, and I am confident that Moody Air Force Base is fully prepared to take on this important mission," Isakson said in a statement.

The MQ-9 Reaper is a drone designed to operate at medium altitudes, often for extended periods of time. Its primary mission is to eliminate targets and it can also be used to collect intelligence. Weighing just under four thousand pounds, the MQ-9 Reaper can be disassembled and loaded into a single container for worldwide deployment. Read more about the MQ-9 here.

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