ROME - The Oneida County Airport at Griffiss will once again be used for military type training. The announcement was made Tuesday that three 'E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System' or "AWACS" planes will soon be flying.

Although the AWACS mission will be based in Oklahoma, the airport at Griffiss will see its fair share of training. About six to eight months a year to be exact and that will be the most consistent use the airport has seen in a few years.

An AWACS plane is essentially what the folks at the Eastern Air Defense Sector do, except not underground but up in the air. One such plane came for a visit to the airport back in March and that is when talks started about permanently locating aircraft at Griffiss throughout the year.

Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente says Griffiss was the only "civilian" airport in the running for the contract and beat out 3 other military bases. He says the AWACS contract will be a nice fit to the airport.

"I think it just adds that other impact on the military side that we're able to do and we're able to accommodate and it says a lot about Griffiss. Again, it fits in nicely with the entire Homeland Security piece that's over at Whitestown because we have this major mission that's going to be located here six to eight months out of the year," Picente said.

Picente says training could start possible as early as next week, when we could expect to see some AWACS planes and crew members in the skies around Griffiss.