Home to Glenn, Armstrong and Wrights perfect spot for Space Command HQ, Ohio lawmakers tell Biden

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio's rich history of aviation innovation makes it an “ideally suited” location for the Air Force's new U.S. Space Command headquarters or Space Force units, a group of the state's congressional delegates told Democratic President Joe Biden in a letter Wednesday.

The bipartisan group — Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, Republican U.S. Rep. David Joyce and six others — joined a coalition of the state's business and technology leaders in making a pitch for the facility, as selection of a headquarters city has been embroiled in politics.

“From the Wright brothers to American heroes like John Glenn and Neil Armstrong, the story of modern aviation is rooted in Ohio – and Ohio is ready to meet the challenges of the future,” they wrote, in a letter also addressed to military leaders. “Ohio’s numerous industry and university partners in the state create a synergy around national security and space that is unmatched around the country.”

The lawmakers urged locating the Space Command headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, already a hub for air and space intelligence and research, and partnering Space Force with NASA’s John H. Glenn Research Center facilities at Lewis Field in Cleveland and the Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky on Lake Erie.

A decision in their favor — viewed as a longshot — would come as central Ohio makes its move to become a nexus of high-tech research and development. Centered around a $20 billion semiconductor facility being built by chipmaker Intel Corp., the hub is also set to include a massive electric vehicle project under way by Honda America and South Korea’s LG Energy Solution and Ohio State University's new $110 million software innovation center.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine and two dozen local...