(The site of a planned U.S. Navy facility in the Shoals area./Courtesy photo)
COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS
By Troy Turner
The Shoals area in northwest Alabama is about to join the rapidly growing defense industry parade that continues its steady march into the state, as word was shared Monday of a 2.2 million-square-foot facility to be used by the U.S. Navy to produce submarine parts.
Submarines these days often are made piecemeal, meaning parts made in the Shoals might be shipped out on the Tennessee River to some yet-to-be-named site where they could be added to modules perhaps being produced in Mobile, and/or combined with other modules made elsewhere to make a complete submarine.
Or something like that.
The main headline government leaders wanted to highlight Monday was the expectation that the new facility, to be further revealed at a March 20 ribbon-cutting, will bring 750-1,500 jobs, and likely secondary jobs for service providers in the area near Barton where the operation will be located.
Locals opined after the announcement that they hope in addition to jobs, that the Navy project brings a new grocery store, since the only one they had there closed awhile back.
Yes, such a project could have that kind of impact, but there is a much bigger picture coming into the play if this facility becomes a successful endeavor.
Suddenly, Alabama’s entire river and rail system might have a new spotlight about to shine upon them.
Army Corps of Engineers
Overlooked no more
The Alabama Port Authority is headquartered mostly due south of the Shoals, all the way down the state to Alabama’s port city of Mobile. But what most Alabamians probably don’t realize is, that port authority works operations into all 67 Alabama counties.
It is but one spotlight example of what could be about to happen when the Shoals welcomes the U.S. Navy to the vitality of industrial production and additional transportation on the mighty Tennessee River from another region of Alabama besides Huntsville, which anyone in defense, military, space or homeland security already know as a mecca of federal activity.
The Shoals area, which includes the quad cities of Florence, Tuscumbia, Sheffield and Muscle Shoals, has a proud history of economic might surrounding the banks of the Tennessee. But to highlight its contributions to the defense industry… well, it’s been a minute.
There exists a new dawn of opportunity if this project becomes a success story.
Several Alabama entities designed to promote industrial production and commerce in the state have a chance to connect the dots, starting with the Port Authority office in Mobile.
Photos/Alabama Port Authority
“When most people picture the port, they see ships along the waterfront and cranes rising over the skyline in Mobile,” director and CEO Doug Otto recently wrote. “What they may not see is the bigger picture: The Alabama Port Authority connects all 67 counties in our state to the world through a vast network of infrastructure and supply chain assets.”
Think in terms of planes, trains and automobiles.
The Port Authority’s work involves unloading and loading for a worldwide market, and the materials coming to and fro require a dependable transportation network that involves a reliable train service, interstate highways and market-sharing airports. Alabama has all of that, and the Port Authority’s job is to sell clients on its value and that of doing business in Alabama.
Other statewide organizations sharing this mission includes the likes of the Alabama Department of Commerce, Innovate Alabama, the Business Council of Alabama and several others.
A statewide picture unfolds
Now, connect those dots.
Since more defense and military producers are creating their final products in partnership with other defense and military producers, that places a critical dependence on a free-flowing supply chain.
That free-flowing supply chain requires a dependable transportation system, and Alabama continues to step up and offer the routes needed to get the job done. Is the state satisfied? Hardly. Just ask anyone who routinely gets stuck on I-65 or I-85 for hours at the time.
More infrastructure must continue to be addressed with this steady growth, but there are reasons to believe that the defense industry will help create revenue and leadership decisions to do so, because today regarding travel needs in Alabama and the growing spread of defense contributions:
A submarine module made in Mobile can get shipped to another shipyard for the next assembly step.
A battle tank restored at Anniston Army Depot can ride a train or large truck in any direction to its acceptance site.
Anniston Army Depot
The F-35 stealth fighter jet based in Montgomery requires high-tech parts delivered from various key providers nationwide, often delivered by air.
Helicopters filling the skies above Fort Rucker need controlled airspace to train new aviators.
Garments such as uniforms and combat helmet covers made in Selma and Talladega need state highways to connect to the interstates.
The new land-based Coast Guard training facility coming to Birmingham needs all modes of transport to bring in its newest cadets.
Huntsville’s space and missile defense producers in northeast Alabama also need all modes, including its airport with one of the longest runways in the southeast United States, and, yes, the Tennessee River.
Now, the Shoals area in the opposite, northwest corner of the state looks to re-emerge as a defense industry player on the river, and with it should come attention to another Alabama market that outside observers in the past may have overlooked.
The transportation dots are connected, and soon the defense industry dots on the map of Alabama will cover every region of the state with training, education, industry and/or production.
This, for a state that already ranks in the Top 10 of states securing defense contracts.
Alabama Port Authority
Keep the parade marching forward
Only a week or so prior to the Shoals announcement, Sen. Katie Britt broke news about the new Coast Guard presence coming to Birmingham.
Only a few months prior, the president of the United States announced that U.S. Space Command Headquarters would be coming to Huntsville.
And in the year prior, shipbuilders in Mobile announced major new Navy contracts, and the Air Force moved F-35 stealth fighter jets to Montgomery.
See the pattern emerging here?
Alabama is becoming a bigger and bigger stalworth in contributing to the national security of the United States, and this analysis doesn’t even touch the bigger picture of education and work-skill opportunities the state provides ranging from welding and carpentry to cybersecurity and spacecraft design.
Nor does it include the state’s leading agriculture role in food research and production, of which Alabama producers also have significant contracts with the War Department.
The Shoals area already is famous for several wonderful contributions to society, including top-hit music recordings and heroes such as Hellen Keller.
Its engineering wonders on the river with lock-and-dam facilities are technological wonders of their time, and its beautiful fertile fields near the river produce thousands of acres of crops.
Coming soon, the Shoals will represent another dot on an important map growing full of dots.
And our nation depends on them.
Every one of them.
Photo/Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area
Troy Turner is the editor and senior consultant for AlaDefense.com. He can be contacted at [email protected]. His bio can be found here.
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