‘New chapter’ celebrated at Robins Air Force Base

Local officials Thursday celebrated a new era at Robins Air Force Base with the completion of the first work done on an RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft at Robins.

Dozens of base and community leaders, as well as maintainers, gathered in front of the plane on the flight line for a ceremony. The plane came in for a paint job to help it fly more efficiently and the work was completed ahead of schedule. It was the first time an unmanned aircraft had landed at an Air Force maintenance depot. More Global Hawks are expected to come but dates have not been set.

“This is a big deal,” said Brig. Gen. John Kubinec, commander of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex.

“This is the beginning of a new chapter here at Warner Robins.”

The process of getting the plane to Robins was complex, and involved working with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to be sure it could be flown in without interference from other aircraft. It landed in the early morning hours with a no-fly zone established in the area. It is expected to take off in a few days, also in the early morning hours.

Kubinec said the work was about more than making the plane look better.

“What they did and the repairs they did to the wings of this aircraft enables this aircraft to get on station quicker, stay on station longer and provide more benefit to those in harm’s way,” he said.

The Global Hawk is a reconnaissance and surveillance plane that can fly at high altitudes for up to 30 hours, providing high resolution imagery.

The plane will now fly with the state of Georgia drawn on its tail section. That’s the emblem that the paint shop puts on all aircraft to signify that it was painted at Robins and the type of paint used, which field maintainers need to know.

One difference on the take off is that the plane will be flown by someone at Robins. It was flown to the base on May 24 by a pilot at its home station of Beale Air Force Base in California. But Robins now has a flying capability set up in the hangar that had been occupied by a Marine helicopter squadron that relocated. Work on the plane will also be done in that hangar in the future.

This story was originally published June 29, 2017 at 1:59 PM with the headline "‘New chapter’ celebrated at Robins Air Force Base."