TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Tinker Air Force Base Installation Commander, Col. G. Hall Sebren, Jr., delivered the State of Tinker speech at a luncheon hosted by the Midwest City Chamber of Commerce recently.
During the luncheon at Rose State College, Sebren’s 30-minute update focused on growth, partnerships and jobs.
While showing the crowd an aerial photograph of Tinker, Sebren said that Tinker is ‘bursting at the seams,’ and requires expansion.
“We are about three and a half miles by three and a half miles, nearly a perfect square, and there is a lot of stuff happening in that square,” he said. “There’s too much happening in there, so what you’re going to see over the next few years is Tinker growing inside the wire, south with a lot of construction there, but on the east side of the base, right by Douglas Rd., we are going to start moving out to the east.”
He said that none of this can be done without the incredible partnerships Tinker has with various industries, education institutions and the surrounding communities.
“The support that we get from all of the counties that surround us is vital,” Sebren said. “We are always in close contact discussing ways we can support each other.”
GROWTH LEADS TO EXPANSION
In a press conference held here in 2018, the former Secretary of the Air Force, Heather Wilson, announced that the B-21 Raider workload was awarded to Tinker.
“This is what is going to cause Tinker to grow to the southeast side of the base, further east,” Sebren said. “This expansion wouldn’t be possible without the continued support of Midwest City, the state and congress.”
The colonel went on to say that the B-21 Raider will join the B-52, B-1, E-3, E-6, KC-135 and KC-46 aircraft that are currently maintained by the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex.
The KC-46A Pegasus Sustainment Campus is still growing. Three of the hangars are in place with the rest still being built out over the next several years.
The Navy is preparing for possible expansion with a new airframe replacing the E-6 Mercury.
EXPANSION LEADS TO JOB GROWTH
Once the full KC-46 program depot maintenance workload comes to Tinker the estimated job growth is near 1,500 jobs.
“We are going to need engineers and maintainers to fulfill this expected job growth,” said Sebren. “We have been working closely with all of our education partners to get the curriculum development and skills required to meet the demand.”
Sebren also said that job growth is still coming for continued growth and expansion in Bldg. 9001. With new airframes and workload coming the 9001 expansion could lead to some 1,200 new jobs.
The commander also spoke about the need for engineers here. One area of expansion on the installation could lead about 1,400 engineering jobs alone.
“The state just doesn’t have the capacity to fill all of those jobs,” he said. “We are keenly interested in working with our colleges and universities to help us fill these high-paying critical jobs.”
In closing, the colonel said, “Tinker is positioned well to take the hard work done in the first 80 years and expand on that, making the next 80 even better.”