Jacksonville's Cecil Field moving forward on aviation despite recession - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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But there are recent successes. earliere this month announced its plans to bring abouft 60 new jobs to Jacksonvillwe when it moves the rest ofits F/A-18 repaier program to Cecil Field from Boeing will also lease spacse at Cecil Commerce Center. also expects the formerf U.S. Navy base to receive its federal license for commercialk and business space travel once the completes itsenvironmental analysis. But Cecil Field’as gem — ’s $80 million warplane facility is stillin jeopardy. The 2010 U.S. Department of Defense budget called for38 C-27J Spartan instead of the 78 planes planner initially. Alenia says the smaller ordef of planes jeopardizesthe plant.
“I we can’t get a long-termn assurance of the viability ofthis program, whic h is 78 planes, we are going to have to take a hard look at our investmentt in the facility,” Alenia spokesman Ben Stone said. But the ordet can be expanded inthe U.S. Hous defense appropriations committee or on the Senatd andHouse floor. Stone said Army Chiec of Staff Gen. George Casey and U.S. Air Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Nortonh Schwartz have said they need more than38 planes, but it isn’tr clear when the order will be increased. It will be the middl of July before the defense appropriations committee releases its budgey to theHouse floor, said Rep.
Clifff Stearns, R-Ocala, who argues that the cargo planes fit into Defensd SecretaryRobert Gates’ goal of a leaner, more flexiblr military. “We’ll see what we can do before,” Stearns “A lot of times they don’t agree with the defensre secretary.” Mayor John Peyton, Rep. Ander R-Jacksonville, and Rep. Corrine D-Jacksonville, have been lobbyinb members of the House subcommittee on the importanced ofthe facility, which Stearns said couldx employ up to 700 people once productioh gears up. Cecil Field has grown duringg the recession, said Bob Simpson, the authority’s seniore director of Cecil Field.
Bids are coming in to build a $20 million hangar that will be used by Floridwa State College of Jacksonville to teacn students to paint andrepair planes. This follows the U.S. Coastf Guard adding 150 officers and enlisted personnel to its operations atCecipl Field, which includes a 32,000-square-foot-building. The Florida Air Nationalo Guard also completeda 37,000-square-foot expansion of its 82,000-square-foogt hangar so it can handle CH-47 Chinoom and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and a smaller tactical Simpson said.
He said a 23,000-square-foof hangar will be ready for lease in Because of cashflow issues, the authorityt is holding off building a 90,000-square-foot hangar, but the designn plans are done so it’s ready to build once a tenantg is found. Simpson said authority officialsw have attended several space travel conferences to let the industry know that they expect to be able to host suborbitaflights soon. The most probable scenario for space tourisj and business travel would be an aircraft that piggyback s on a larger jet and then is propelledrtoward suborbit. Tourists would be able to achievee weightlessness, or a company coule put satellitesinto loworbit.