OK Military Installations: $9.6 Billion Impact, 5% of All Wages and Salaries

• Joe Wertz
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  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Tech. Sgt. Jacob N. Bailey / U.S. Air Force

Crew chiefs from Oklahoma's Tinker Air Force Base prepare a KC-135 Stratotanker for a air refueling exercise in Hawaii.

Oklahoma’s five military installations have a $9.6 billion economic impact on the state’s gross domestic product, according to an economic analysis by the Department of Commerce.

Collectively, Oklahoma’s three Air Force bases and two Army installations employ more than 69,100 with a total payroll of more than $3 billion in FY 2010, which is about 5 percent of all wage and salary disbursements in Oklahoma, according to the report (right-click here to download).

Hit the jump for a Veteran’s Day roundup of the economic impact of Oklahoma’s military installations.

Staff Sgt Lakisha A. Croley / U.S. Air Force

Technical Sgt. Jess Cox with the 185th Air Refueling Squadron, Air National Guard, Tinker AFB, controls a refueling boom during training in Japan.

Tinker Air Force Base

Tinker is Oklahoma’s largest single-site employer. The base was established in 1941 as an air material depot and today hosts the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, the 72nd Air Base Wing, the 76th Maintenance Wing and the Aerospace Sustainment Directorate, the largest of the branch’s three air logistics centers.

U.S. Army

Helmets and body armor of Fort Sill's 100th Brigade Support Battalion are lined up prior to departure from Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

Fort Sill

Fort Sill, Oklahoma’s oldest military installation, provides basic combat training and advanced individual training for both Army soldiers and Marines, including instruction on rocket and missile systems, artillery and howitzers.

Airman 1st Class Kenneth W. Norman / U.S. Air Force

A C-17 Globemaster III on the flightline at Altus Air Force Base is prepared for Operation Odyssey Dawn, a support mission in Libya.

Altus Air Force Base

Created in 1943 as an Army air field that trained new pilots on multi-engined aircraft, the role of Altus Air Force Base is much the same today, according to the report. The base was deactivated near the end of WWII and reactivated in 1953 as a training base for transport aircraft. The base is home to the 97th Air Mobility Wing.

The Inspired Photographer / Flickr

A trainer takes off from Vance Air Force Base in Enid.

Vance Air Force Base

Vance started as a flight school that trained thousands of WWII pilots. The school was activated in in 1942, deactivated in 1945 and reactivated in 1948. The base’s 71st Flying Training Wing trains Air Force, Navy, Marine and international student pilots. In 2010, the wing flew 56,000 sorties and graduated 332 pilots, according to the Department of Commerce report.

Jack Hughes / McAlester Army Ammunition Plant

Lt. Gen. James Pillsbury removes the rear casing plate of a bomb at the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant.

McAlester Army Ammunition Plant

Established in 1943 as a Naval ammunition depot and transferred to the Army in 1977, the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant is responsible for producing and storing conventional ammunition and missiles and the renovation and demilitarization of explosives, ammunition and defense equipment.