Georgia Tech pursues Cobb County campus where fighter jets were built

Where Lockheed Martin once built the world’s most high-tech fighter planes, Georgia Tech students could one day complete research to improve national defense and homeland security.

Georgia Tech is hoping to acquire 52 acres of land, adjacent to Dobbins Air Force Base, for the creation of a technology research facility.

According to WABE, the campus would focus on issues relating to national security, homeland defense, and commercial advanced technology initiatives.

The facility would require 32 acres of land owned by Lockheed Martin, which housed the operations for the F-22 Raptor fighter jet program that was shuttered in 2013.

Additionally, the school is looking to acquire 20 acres of adjacent greenspace.

Plans for the acquisition have been in the works for a year, and, with the approval of a nearly $63 million funding strategy by the Georgia Board of Regents, a final decision could be made as early as this fall.

Here’s the land in question, as seen back in 2003:

Lockheed Martin/Flickr

• Georgia Tech Releases Plans To Buy Land From Lockheed Martin [WABE]