Submitted by NAVAIR Public Affairs Office

As a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) law, NAS Patuxent River will see some physical changes beginning next summer.

Two BRAC recommendations will be implemented with the construction of a new building on base. The Office of the Secretary of Defense approved the implementation plans for developing a Rotary Wing Center of Excellence at Pax River, and the realignment of personnel working in leased locations in Lexington Park, moving them onto NAS.

“Having business and implementation plans approved by OSD and a construction contract awarded in one fiscal year is a real accomplishment,” said Frank Faust, AIR-7.1 and member on NAVAIR’s BRAC Operations Support Team. “The teams did outstanding work and collaborated to take an innovative look at implementation. The key to their ability to move ahead so quickly may have been that collaboration.”

Personnel affected by both plans will move into a 48,000-square-foot building to be built in the back of the parking area behind the RADM William A. Moffett building.

The proposed three-story structure will house personnel from Cost Analysis, AIR-4.2, who are presently working from a location on Great Mills Road in Lexington Park. The building will also accommodate the Rotary Wing Center of Excellence workload with some personnel and equipment transferring from Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio and Lakehurst, N.J.

“We awarded a contract in September (FY06) for construction,” said Michael Kane, Support Manager for Mission Assets, AIR-7.10 and NAVAIR BRAC implementation lead for this portion of the lease realignment plan. “The project also includes a fourth deck on the parking garage behind the Moffett building.”

According to Kane, the additional garage space will add 300 parking spaces, while the construction will eliminate just 85 spaces – leaving a net gain of more than 200 spaces which will accommodate the additional work moving in.

“The parking garage construction will begin next summer,” said Kane. “When that’s completed, we’ll begin construction on the building. The garage completion will come first since parking is at a premium in that location.”

Kane expects the entire project to be complete by mid-2008.

As more information becomes available, it will be posted on the BRAC Communicator Web site on the MyNAVAIR Community of Interest at https://mynavair.navair.navy.mil.