Construction will begin soon on a $46.9 million facility at Little Rock Air Force Base to house military personnel who undergo training on the C-130 transport aircraft.
The facility is the largest C-130 base in the world. Its tenants include the 314th Airlift Wing, an active-duty U.S. Air Force unit, and the 189th Airlift Wing, an Arkansas Air National Guard unit.
Both units train C-130 crews and maintenance personnel from the Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard as well as from 47 allied nations.
The 314th alone trains about 1,200 students annually, making it the U.S. Department of Defense's largest international flight training program.
The base's host unit is the 19th Airlift Wing, which has a fleet of C-130s that support military operations and disaster relief around the world.
According to base officials, the four-story, 250-unit building is long overdue.
Visitor quarters are now spread across five dormitory-style buildings and three other two-story buildings that date to the 1950s. The base near Jacksonville opened in 1955.
The eight buildings together have space for 258 rooms, but only 220 are available, according to base officials.
"Maintenance requirements of the current facilities affect the number of available rooms at any given time, resulting in a significant number of annual guests having to go off base for commercial lodging," the base said in a statement.
The new facility will total about 136,000 square feet and consist of 230 standard guest rooms and 20 business suites.
The length of stays in the visiting quarters can vary. Military members on orders can stay in the quarters for the length of time stated on their orders, a base spokesman said. Other military members can stay up to seven days based on availability.
The facility may be used by active duty, retired military, and National Guard and Reserve personnel -- as well as their dependents -- and by Defense Department personnel, a spokesman said.
"The newly awarded facility will allow us to better meet the current requirements of Little Rock AFB's mission sets," the statement said.
Ross Group Construction Corp. was awarded the "firm-fixed price" contract through an online process overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Defense Department announced last week.
The contractor, which is based in Tulsa, has experience with military projects, including a recent one at the base.
Ross Group was the prime contractor on a $20.8 million project to build a 66,000-square-foot hangar for C-130J fuel cell maintenance completed in 2016. The J model is the latest version of the C-130, a four-engine turboprop military transport built by Lockheed Martin and known as the Super Hercules. The first version, the C-130A Hercules, entered service in 1956.
The hangar included two 30,000-square-foot hangar bases with a two-story, 2,500-square-foot administration building between them. Spaces include offices, shower/locker rooms, rooms for fuel cell maintenance, tool checkout spaces, conference rooms, storage and a break room.
The base visitors quarters is expected to be completed in October 2021, according to the Defense Department announcement.
A Section on 08/21/2019