Warner Robins Air Force Base is home of Georgia Air National Guard 116th Bomb Wing, flying the B-1B bomber, and is the main U.S. operating base for the E-8 Joint STARS. Robins AFB is the largest industrial complex in Georgia, with $3,298,814,000 replacement value of facilities, 3.8 million square feet of maintenance shops, 3.5 million square feet of storage space, and 1.7 million square feet of administrative space. It is one of the largest Air Force bases in the South, with 13,801,313 total square feet of facilities situated on 8,722 acres. The Base has the largest runway in Georgia --12,000 feet long by 300 feet wide with two 1,000-foot overruns. It employs more than 19,000 men and women, including more than 5,000 military members, almost 12,000 civilians, and more than 2,800 contract civilians.
       Nearly everyone in Warner Robins either works on the base or is related to somebody who works there, which promotes warm relations with local city folks who rely on Robins AFB for a good part of their livelihood. A friendly population of more than 80,000 enhances the city 's fine location and environment. Warner Robins' warm, southern climate and two nearby lakes offer nearly year-round outdoor activity such as boating, fishing and water skiing. And the city is small enough so there's not a lot of crime, but it's big enough that you can get whatever you want in the stores.
       One of the Air Force’s five air logistics centers. Warner Robins Air Logistics Center has worldwide management and engineering responsibility for the repair, modification and overhaul of the: F-15 Eagle; C-130 Hercules; C-141 Starlifter; all Air Force helicopters; and all special operations aircraft and their avionics systems.   In addition, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center has worldwide management responsibility for the U-2 Dragon Lady, and is home of the 93rd Air Control Wing flying the E-8 Joint Stars Robin's Museum of Aviation is a major center of education for Georgia. The second largest aviation museum in the USAF, it features 93 historic aircraft and missiles on a 43 acre site consisting of both indoor and outdoor exhibits. The Museum of Aviation is located only seven miles east of I-75, near Robins Air Force Base.
9th Space Warning Squadron
     The 9th Space Warning Squadron, a 21st Space Wing unit, operated one of four AFSPACECOM PAVE PAWS sensors located at Robins AFB, GA, 24 kilometers south of Macon, near the city of Warner Robins. Members of the 9th SWS had been a part of the city since November 1986, when the unit's radar became operational.Working at the site are US and Canadian military members, civil servants and Raytheon contractor personnel who maintain the radar and computer equipment.
     In October 1990 Air Force awarded an $8.6 million contract to Raytheon Company for an automatic face-blanking modification to the PAVE PAWS radar facility at Robins AFB, GA. The modification is designed to protect aircraft equipped with electro-explosive devices (EED) from possible effects from the radar's energy. EEDs are small explosive devices used on some aircraft to jettison components such as external fuel tanks, flares and armament. The devises are operated electrically, making them vulnerable to accidental ignition by exposure to electromagnetic fields. Exposure to the power density levels emitted by PAVE PAWS should be considered a safety hazard, according to a government study, to EEDs-equipped aircraft operating within 6,000 feet of the radar antenna. The modification consists of an auxiliary tracker that automatically controls the radar to avoid emitting high-density radar energy when aircraft are in the possible danger zone.
      The primary mission of the 9th SWS was to provide early warning on all submarine launched and intercontinental ballistic missiles that penetrate the radar's coverage. The radar can track objects up to about 3,000 miles over the Southeast coast of the United States. All tracking data was electronically transmitted to missile warning and space surveillance centers within Cheyenne Mountain AFB, CO. The site's secondary mission was to support US Space Command's space surveillance mission by tracking manmade objects orbiting the earth. The radar routinely tracked objects in space as small as a basketball. The biggest challenge was keeping up with all the manmade objects launched into space. After notification of a launch, the 9th SWS operations section had to make sure its prepared for the objects (launch vehicle and payload) when they enter its area of coverage. The Squadron calculated the time it should enter and then interfaced with the site's computers to lock in on the objects. The site helped keep tabs on most US domestic launches, including the space shuttle, as well as foreign launches.