Barksdale Air Base Soars As An Economic Force, Technology Driver
Published May 18, 2009
The decision to give Walter T. Holmes his long overdue Distinguished Service Cross at Barksdale Air Force Base made good logistical sense - the sprawling airfield near Bossier City is just about 150 miles from the World War II hero’s East Texas home.
But the location had added significance. Holmes proved his valor flying a death-defying mission to take out a Romanian refinery as part of the 44th Bombardment Group, which trained at Barksdale in the early part of the war.
“It’s not very often we get to stand among heroes,” Maj. Gen. Floyd Carpenter, vice-commander, Eighth Air Force at Barksdale, told him.
As one of the country’s oldest airbases, Barksdale is rich with such history. But its future may prove as legendary. Air Force brass has been considering using the 22,000-acre base as headquarters for the new Global Strike Command overseeing nuclear capabilities and for its new 24th Air Force cyber mission, which helps protect against electronic attacks.
Just being short-listed underscores Barksdale’s place on the cutting edge of military assets. Barksdale is home to the largest collections of B-52 bombers in the world, as well as the temporary home to the cyber command.
Additions to Barksdale’s mission would only add to the economic benefits the region receives from the base, currently estimated at $580 million a year, says Murray Viser, president of Barksdale Forward, an advocacy group.
The base is home to some 16,000 active-duty personnel, dependents and civilian workers, generating a direct annual payroll of $400 million.
The base’s cyber mission has already helped spawn potentially an even bigger player in the world of electronic warfare – the Cyber Innovation Center in Bossier City, a $107 million investment in fighting the wars of the future.
The cyber fortress is designed as a terrorist-proof, hacker-proof, spy-proof, storm-proof home for the country’s military and intelligence communities, the contractors who serve them and international allies of the United States, says Craig Spohn, the center’s executive director.
Recent hostilities between countries Russia and Georgia demonstrate crippling attacks that can happen to cyber infrastructure.
The center will complement the Air Force’s cyber mission at Barksdale, but it does not rely on the base being chosen as the final home for the 24th Air Force, Spohn says. Demand for secure facilities is soaring, and he anticipates the first building of the development being fully leased by the time it finishes construction, estimated for the end of 2009.
Eventually, the site could house up to 4,000 highly skilled professionals, whose arrival could mark one of the biggest transformations in Northwest Louisiana since, well, the creation of Barksdale in the 1930s.
“We are going to be very successful right now with or without the Air Force,” Spohn says.
More Insight
Cyber Speak
www.cyberinnovationcenter.org
The Cyber Innovation Center in Bossier City is envisioned as a $107 million complex that will provide an ultra-secure physical location for government, private industry and academia to collaborate, perform research and develop state-of the-art cyber technology.
The center is supported by a coalition of government, business, education and civic organizations.
Already under construction is the 120,000-square-foot first building in what will be the National Cyber Research Park, on land adjacent to Bossier Parish Community College and near Barksdale Air Force Base.
By the time the center opens its permanent location, a full complement of industries will be on the ground to support its mission, both for the private sector as well as the military.
Story by Sam Scott
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