German pilots likely headed to Fort Smith base for training, ambassador says


              FILE - In this file photograph taken July 15, 2008, people wander around a life-size model of US planemaker Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter II, during the Farnborough aerospace show, in Farnborough, England. A lot is at stake in the Farnborough International Airshow, the aviation industry's biggest annual event which opens Monday, July 14, 2014. The trade show is expected to see the first presentation of the world's most advanced fighter jet, new commercial aircraft as well as a host of new technological advances that promise to give a glimpse of the future of flying. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, file)
FILE - In this file photograph taken July 15, 2008, people wander around a life-size model of US planemaker Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter II, during the Farnborough aerospace show, in Farnborough, England. A lot is at stake in the Farnborough International Airshow, the aviation industry's biggest annual event which opens Monday, July 14, 2014. The trade show is expected to see the first presentation of the world's most advanced fighter jet, new commercial aircraft as well as a host of new technological advances that promise to give a glimpse of the future of flying. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, file)

ROGERS -- The German ambassador's decision to publicly announce Fort Smith as the likely site for German pilots to learn to fly Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jets came as a surprise to Gov. Asa Hutchinson, he said Thursday.

Hutchinson spoke to a crowd of at least 250 at the Mid-America Aerospace and Defense Summit, a meeting of defense industry representatives from Arkansas, Oklahoma and nearby states. Hutchinson gave the keynote speech at the group's luncheon.

The governor met with Emily Haber, Germany's ambassador to the United States, in Washington on Tuesday. He and his staff "had planned to keep what we talked about confidential, and then the ambassador tweeted it out" that day, he said.

It was a pleasure hosting Hutchinson from Arkansas, who is chairman of the National Governor's Association, Haber's tweet that morning said, and then: "With Germany's decision to procure the F-35, German pilots will also be trained on this fighter jet in the US – according to current planning, in Fort Smith, Arkansas!"

Hutchinson declined to give any further details after his speech about when training for German fighter pilots would start and how certain the German government is about training in Fort Smith.

"I think I'll just let the ambassador's words speak for themselves," he said.

The Air Force is setting up a Foreign Military Sales Pilot Training Center at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith. Ebbing was selected last year as its preferred location for a pilot training center for Singapore and other countries buying U.S. military aircraft.

The governor and his family lived in Fort Smith while he served as U.S. attorney and then in a private law practice. The training center means more to residents of the town and region than the economic boost it gives, he said.

"We used to have an airshow there, something you have with jets that you don't have with drones," which was the type of training done at the base in recent years. "We're really excited about it and worked hard to win it."

In other news, the governor thanked the defense industry for its efforts in supplying Ukraine in its fight against invasion by Russia. "Freedom is at risk across the globe," he told the group.

Both the rocket motors and the warheads for Javelin anti-tank missiles, which proved vital to Ukraine's defense, are made at the Highlands Industrial Park in East Camden by Aerojet Rocketdyne, said Mike Preston, Arkansas' secretary of commerce who also spoke to the group.

"Both the things that make it move and make it go boom are made there," Preston said. The same company produces the rocket motors for the multiple rocket launcher system used as artillery, he said.

John Schaffitzel, president of Highland, isn't allowed to reveal how much military material from Arkansas goes to Ukraine, he said.

Hutchinson also said he could not give such details, but he added that defense industries in Arkansas make many contributions, not just rockets and explosives.

"Any weapon we send over there has components from Arkansas in it," he said. He also said the U.S. has shipped equipment from National Guard units in Arkansas to Ukraine, but that he was not free to give details.


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