BRAC will help area economy

He meant delivery of the joint strike fighter, but his words also apply to BRAC's economic impact.

"It's real,"  J.R. McDonald said last week at a roundtable symposium sponsored by the Economic Development Council of Okaloosa County.  "It's really coming to Eglin."

McDonald, Lockheed Martin's vice president for Northwest Florida operations, said the first two F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter aircraft are expected to roll out of the company's mile-long assembly facility in Fort Worth, Texas, this month and, after flight testing, be delivered to the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base this fall.

For more on this story, see the June 10 issue of the Navarre Press or subscribe online.