The Navy has hired a Florida firm for $70 million in construction at the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort in preparation for the arrival of its new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
/ FILE
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT (WACH, AP) -- The Navy has hired a Florida firm for $70 million in construction at the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort in preparation for the arrival of its new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
A spokeswoman for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast says Hensen Phelps Construction Co. of Orlando, Fla., won the contract.
Command spokeswoman Sue Brink told The Beaufort Gazette the contract covers a new training facility, hangar, simulator building, classrooms, conference and administrative rooms.
The base is expected to need almost $352 million in construction during the next five years to prepare for the new jets.
The project is to begin next month and be completed by 2013.
In December, the Navy announced its decision to base three new active duty squadrons and two pilot training squadrons at the air station. The next-generation jets are to replace the F-18 Hornets now flown by Marines. With the new jets the number of takeoffs and landings each year at MCAS-Beaufort could almost double from 55,000 to about 98,000.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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