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Freshman U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, visited Lockheed Martin, Skirosky and Kimber on a stop in Troy Monday.

Tuberville said he was trying to familiarize himself with current issues important to Alabamians as well as learn more about the defense industry in the state.

“This was my first stop on this trip,” Tuberville said. “We’re going to stop in Montgomery, Birmingham and Anniston next. In Washington, we work for three weeks and then have a week off, so that gives us a chance to visit home 12 times a year.  We’ll also have the month of August off. That gives us a lot of time to catch up on what’s going on at home. There’s nothing like sitting down one-on-one and talking with people.”

Tuberville said the defense industry was very important to Alabama and he wanted to get a better working knowledge of how much the state contributed to the defense industry.

“I didn’t realize how much the Troy area contributed to the security of our nation, and really the world,” Tuberville said.

Tuberville said the defense industry is statewide in Alabama — from Mobile to Huntsville. He said there was a good possibility that Huntsville would also be the future home of U.S. Space Command.

Tuberville said Sen. Richard Shelby had helped lay the groundwork for the defense industry in the state. Tuberville has been assigned to the U.S. Senate’s Armed Services Committee and took every opportunity to sit and talk with Shelby about the defense industry.

“This is a good opportunity to learn from Sen. Shelby,” Tuberville said. “He’s a really god resource for me. I talk with him a lot about the military. Sometimes, we even talk little football.”

Tuberville said he thought the country was beginning to get past COVID and it was time for people to go back to work. He said he thought the current extension of unemployment benefits would be the last extension issued by the Biden Administration.