Navy awards contract for F-35C infrastructure work

The Navy recently awarded a $46 million contract to Straub Construction Inc. for F-35C carrier variant hangar modernization and building an extension to house the aircraft at the first West Coast base.

The new addition at Naval Air Station Lemoore, CA, will expand all of the aircraft maintenance high bay space, crews and shops space, administrative, equipment and maintenance spaces, according to the May 31 contract announcement.

"Renovation includes maintenance bays, shops and administrative spaces, including selective demolition work, asbestos and lead abatement, new finishes, roof replacement, and incidental structural and secondary utility system modifications and upgrades," the announcement reads.

The service anticipates the work will be completed by December 2017.

Inside the Navy reported in May 2015 the Navy will temporarily double the number of Joint Strike Fighter aircraft it has at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to house the jets.

On April 23, 2015, the Air Force signed an addendum to a June 26, 2014, record of decision for the "Final F-35 Beddown Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement" that approved the Navy's request to add 15 F-35C carrier variant "Backup Aircraft Inventory" at Eglin Air Force Base, FL.

"The Supplemental EIS allows Eglin Air Force Base to temporarily house additional F-35C aircraft while they await final assignment to Naval Air Station Lemoore, [CA]," an F-35 spokeswoman wrote in an April 30 email. "Once facilities at Lemoore are sufficiently ready to accept F-35Cs, the additional aircraft at Eglin will be ferried to their ultimate duty station at Lemoore."

The Navy agreed to operate no more than 15 of 30 aircraft daily in order to abide by the threshold established in the original EIS, the F-35 spokeswoman wrote.

This means half of the F-35C jets at Eglin will effectively not be flown because of an agreement reached between the Air Force and the local community in the original EIS.

On Oct. 2, 2014, the Navy announced its plan to base the F-35C at NAS Lemoore after weighing the strategic, operational and environmental consequences. A total of 100 F-35Cs in seven Navy Pacific Fleet squadrons and the Fleet Replacement Squadron will be based at Lemoore in the beginning of 2016.