Wallops seems to have future intact

Despite the changes on Capitol Hill, NASA Wallops seems set for the future according to the chairman of the Wallops Island Regional Alliance. 

Chairman Peter Bale said Wallops currently has plenty of support at the federal, state and local level. 

Bale pointing the commitment of those like Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who signed on to bring the Triton program to Wallops. The program, linked with the US Navy will do major drone surveillance and bring close to 400 jobs to the area. 

"I think the commitment from obviously the federal government and from the state government has secured a long future for the wallops complex there is nowhere on the East Coast of the US that can do what Wallops does," Bale said.

However it's not just political commitment, Bale pointed out commercial commitment from the area has also given Wallops a firm leg to stand on. 

"I think you're seeing a lot of commercial support, you're seeing a lot of investment by commercial companies locally and you know you only have to look at some of the large rocket companies that are invested here locally for that re-supply mission and you'll see it's a great are to do business," Bale said. 

One of those companies was Orbital ATK, who has a building at Wallops flight facility. 

Bale adds that another bright spot on the horizon for Wallops is the new unmanned aircraft runway that is being built and other facility expansions.