A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the Army’s Cyber Command Center that will be located at Fort Gordon in Augusta. Today, the Army breaks ground on their new command center facility. From a presser:
New facilities supporting Army Cyber Operations and Command and Control functions will be constructed during the first phase of the project, planned for completion in May 2018 at a cost of $85.1 million. In August 2016 the Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District contracted B.L. Harbert International, LLC, of Birmingham, Alabama to carry out the construction.
The second phase of construction to support Cyber Protection Team operations is expected to be completed in early 2019. The buildings, with a total baseline capacity to support more than 1,200 cyber Soldiers and civilians, are projected to be fully ready for occupation in late 2020.
This is a boon for Georgia that introduces additional highly-skilled (and high-paying) IT jobs into our economy. You can expect civilian IT workers to be hired and locate near the base in Augusta.
Georgia’s economy is diversifying into different areas. Agriculture is still a main driving force, but both the IT sector and Georgia’s film industry have been major drivers of Georgia’s economy. Georgia landing the Army Cyber Command headquarters is definitely a good thing for our state.