New dollar data from Barksdale Air Force Base includes some eye-popping amounts. The value of the base’s 47 B-52 Stratofortress aircraft is, according to the U.S. Air Force, nearly $4.9 billion dollars.
$4,888,000,000
The last B-52, the “H” model, was delivered to the Air Force in October of 1962 during the height of the Cuban missile crisis.
The first B-52, an “A,” was flown in 1954. A total of 744 of the planes were built.
In January, Boeing won a $2 billion contract to replace the H’s engines with newer Rolls Royce models that Boeing hopes will streamline maintenance and enable longer missions. Boeing states that with the upgrades, the B-52 should be in the air “Beyond 2050.”
$3,790,067,779
The total replacement of the 1,145 buildings and 518 structures on Barksdale Air Force Base would run nearly $3.8 billion.
$478,309,495
Over $478 million is paid annually to the 5,283 active-duty military and 1,479 reservists. Another $175,754,719 goes to the 2,573 civilians who keep the base exchange and all the private businesses running.
$172,204,032
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the jobs that the base created simply by being in Bossier City number 3,234. If each job pays a $53,248 salary, the value of jobs created annually is over $172 million.
$573,438,595
A big base with a lot of people to care for is spending money in other ways, too, on things such as construction projects, service contracts, material, equipment and supplies and health/TRICARE, for a total of more than $573 million.
According to the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce, with more than $654 million in total payroll, and $573 million in expenditures BAFB’s pure local economic impact totals nearly $1.4 billion annually.
