FORT SMITH, Ark. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Little Rock District broke ground May 6 on a $74 million academic training center at Ebbing Air National Guard Base, advancing the base's transformation into a one-of-a-kind international F-35 pilot training facility. The ceremony was hosted by the Air Force’s 188th Wing, the 33rd Fighter Wing and USACE.
The 44,000-square-foot center will house classrooms and four advanced F-35 flight simulators capable of replicating complextraining environments, according to Erin Cumbo, the Little Rock District's program manager for the Ebbing project.
The roar of a pair of F-35s making an overflight at 1,000 feet opened the event, the sounds of their engines still echoing as Ms. Rachel Dahl performed the national anthem on a chilly Wednesday morning at Ebbing. Jay Townsend, chief of public affairs for the Little Rock District and emcee for the ceremony, said the combination was hard to forget.
"The national anthem hits different with F-35s overhead," he said.
For Brig. Gen. George Walter, the commander of USACE’s Southwestern Division, the groundbreaking is the next step in what he expects to be a rapidly executed and realized project for the Air Force. In his remarks, Walter challenged the project team to beat the two-year construction schedule planned for the academic training center.
"It's a two-year period of performance," Walter said. "I want it done in 18 months."
Walter described the Little Rock District as the anchor for a multi-district USACE effort at Ebbing, with the district leading design and construction management under the Southwestern Division, headquartered in Dallas.
Ebbing was selected in March 2023 by the U.S. Air Force to host the Foreign Military Sales pilot training program for the F-35. Partner nations including Singapore, Switzerland, Poland, Germany and Finland will send pilots to train at the base. Up to 400 personnel are expected to be stationed at Ebbing when Singapore's aircraft, F-35s arriving in late 2026 and F-16s expected in summer 2027, are fully in place.
Col. Jonathan Esparza, commander of the 188th Wing, said the groundbreaking marks the beginning of a three-year transitional phase that will bring significant changes to the base. The new center will give student pilots a foundational understanding of F-35 operations before advancing to simulator training,
"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."
U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, and U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., secured $75 million for the academic center. About $600 million in federal funds has been appropriated since 2021 for the broader training complex, which the Air Force estimates will cost $807 million to complete.
"This is a billion-plus-dollar economic impact on the region, and that's going to cover a span of time," Womack said. Boozman said he looks forward to seeing the completed center, and what comes after it.
"At the end of the day we have the most modern F-35 base in the world," Boozman said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Little Rock District delivers engineering solutions across Arkansas and parts of Missouri, providing design and construction management, water resources management, and regulatory services in support of national defense, public infrastructure, and environmental stewardship. The Little Rock District is one of six districts comprising USACE's Southwestern Division, headquartered in Dallas.