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One year ago, Tracy Ogle loaded his household goods in a U-Haul trailer and his work goods in 18 tractor-trailers and made the 850-mile trek from Fremont, Neb., to Tullahoma.

“It was a God thing,” said Mr. Ogle. “A door closed in Fremont and a door opened in Tullahoma.”

The closed door was increasing lease payments on a building in Fremont and the opened door was a refurbished World War II hangar at the Tullahoma airport.

The 22,500 square foot hangar now holds as many as eight Black Hawk helicopters being refurbished and upgraded by Mr. Ogles’ company Nebraska ARMES.

The high tech work by Mr. Ogles’ team includes maintenance, repair and complete overhaul work as well as interior fabrication, system troubleshooting and avionics upgrades on the sophisticated Black Hawk helicopters.

Six of Mr. Ogles’ employees made the move from Fremont to join Nebraska ARMES in Tullahoma. Since arriving one year ago Mr. Ogle has hired nine new employees.

Nebraska ARMES work is primarily performed for the US military, US Customs and Border Patrol and US Forest Service. Work for the US Forest Service includes modifying the helicopters to fight forest fires in the Western US.

Since the founding of Nebraska ARMES in 2016, Ogle has received numerous patents for his work and one very interesting trademark. Because of the company’s work refurbishing the Black Hawk helicopters for Heads of State from around the world, Ogle requested and received a trademark for VVIP (Very, Very Important Persons.)

The modifications Ogle and his team perform on the helicopters range from $500,000 to $10,000,000 each and can often take six months to complete.

According to Ogle, Nebraska ARMES is but one of a small handful of companies in the US certified to do the extensive work often required to upgrade the Black Hawk helicopters.

The hangar that houses Nebraska ARMES was built in 1941 to support the adjacent air base. The hangar, vacant since the early 90’s, was completed renovated in 2014 at a cost of $1,300,000 by Williamson Aviation.

Black Hawk helicopters are built by Sikorsky Aircraft. Their top speed is 193 knots (222 MPH). Black Hawk helicopters are a versatile multi mission helicopter operated by the US ARMED Forces and numerous other nations. The helicopters are known for their ruggedness, reliability and adaptability to various missions including air assault, medevac and search and rescue.

Nebraska ARMES now joins the long list of aviation and high tech companies that now call Tullahoma home.

Beverly Lee, chairperson of the Tullahoma Area Economic Development Council, offered this about Mr. Ogle and his company’s move to Tullahoma. “I want to commend Mr. Ogle and his talented team for the extraordinary work they are doing and for choosing Tullahoma as their new home. After meeting him, it was clear how impressed he was with our community and the quality of life we offer. Nebraska ARMES has brought both a highly skilled workforce and an impressive roster of customers whose mission strengthen our nation’s defense, protect our borders and uphold standards of excellence recognized across the globe. Their presence builds on Tullahoma’s proud aviation heritage and positions our community for even greater opportunities in the years ahead.”

   Nebraska ARMES is located at 707 William Northern Blvd.