Image courtesy of Ebbing Air National Guard

By MATT SMITHMIER

FORT SMITH, Ark. – Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith – in northwestern Arkansas – will soon welcome a new $74 million academic training center.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Little Rock District held a groundbreaking May 6 to kick off the project, which should further the base’s goal of becoming an elite international F-35 pilot training facility.

The 44,000-square-foot center will house classrooms and four advanced F-35 flight simulators.

In 2023, Ebbing was chosen by the Air Force to host the Foreign Military Sales pilot training program for the F-35, a collaboration with Singapore, Switzerland, Poland, Germany and Finland. These partner countries will send their pilots to train on the F-35 at the base, joining up to 400 U.S personnel stationed there.

“We give our closest nation allies the opportunity to train side-by-side with our American cohorts and produce realistic training and replicate tactics that we would use against our nation’s adversaries, so that we are not only prepared, but interoperable with one another in support of our national defense strategies,” said Col. Jonathan Esparza, commander of the 188^th Wing.

The $75 million secured for the academic center joins about $600 million in federal funds appropriated for the broader training complex since 2021.