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Buckhorn heads to Air Mobility Command to lure military contracts

Posted Oct 18, 2011 by Christian M. Wade

Updated Oct 18, 2011 at 11:11 AM

Jet-setting Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn is on the road again, this time an overnight visit to St. Louis aimed at luring a lucrative military contract to the city.

Buckhorn is scheduled to meet with Gen. Raymond E. Johns Jr., commander of the U.S. Air Mobility Command in Missouri, who is overseeing construction of the next generation of refueling airplanes that could be landing in Tampa sometime in the next five years. 

In February, the U.S. Defense Department announced the award of a $3.5 billion engineering and manufacturing contract for the KC-46A refueling tanker to the Boeing Company.

While the planes will be built in several states – including Florida, Arizona, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Illinois – MacDill Air Force Base could be home for a few of the planes. Problem is, the base doesn’t have hangers big enough to house the aircraft.

Buckhorn said that could mean construction jobs for the city down the road.

“We just want to let them know we’re here, and hopefully start laying the seeds for when the tankers are completed,” he said before departing Monday. “It’s a long way off, but we want them to know that when that day comes that we are given serious consideration.”

The program expects to deliver the first 18 aircraft by 2017.