Work continues on a new $59.5 million state-of-the-art maintenance hangar at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The facility, under construction by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, will support the new KC-46A Pegasus, a mid-air refueling tanker set to arrive at the installation in the summer of 2020.
Home of the 916th Air Refueling Wing, Air Force Reserve, SJAFB will be the first U.S. Air Force Reserve wing to receive the new KC-46A. Similar facilities are being constructed at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas and Pease Air National Guard Base in New Hampshire.
“The new facility will allow the Air Force Reserve unit at SJAFB to continue its supporting role/mission of mid-air refueling,” said Stephen Blanchard, Corps resident engineer at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
The new hangar is replacing a 1950s era building which supported the government’s aging fleet of KC-135 Stratotankers.
“The old facility only had the capability to provide general maintenance,” said Blanchard. “The KC-46A Pegasus has new and different maintenance requirements and is a larger plane, so it requires a larger more state-of-the-art facility to support the mission.”
As described on Boeing.com, the KC 46A is a wide-body, multi-role tanker than can refuel all U.S., allied and coalition military aircraft. It can carry passengers, cargo and patients.
With the new facility, Blanchard said that Airmen will have the capability to paint and conduct fuel system maintenance along with other general maintenance on the aircraft.
In 2017, the Corps awarded the contract to Walbridge-Aldinger LLC of Charlotte, North Carolina, to construct the two-bay hangar and demolish the existing hangar.
At 181,000 square feet, the new hangar will house corrosion control, wash rack operations, fuel system maintenance, aircraft maintenance shops, and various other administrative functions for the new KC-46A.
The facility is being constructed to meet U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards and comply with U.S. Department of Defense requirements for anti-terrorism/force protection.
Blanchard said that the project faces logistics challenges due to the size of the building, limited space and the required sequencing of the work.
“Because the site is located across an active flight line, it requires close communication with the installation, air field management and security forces to coordinate equipment delivery,” said Blanchard. “All deliveries have to go through extra precautions to ensure that they are made safely and quickly.”
The project is slated for completion in October 2020.