A measure for the annual U.S. military budget includes $47 million for a new Army aviation complex at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to better serve helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft as the bulked-up base absorbs new units.

    The planned Army Flight Complex would include a hangar, new taxiways and lighting.

    In the 2005 round of base closings, the 43,000-acre military reservation in the Pine Barrens was designated the nation’s first interservices joint base and since then it’s been absorbing units from closed facilities in the northeast.

    The Army Flight Complex is planned for the Lakehurst side of the Joint Base and has been in the works since 2007, said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., whose district includes that part of the base.
The Army has long had a presence at the World War II-era Hangar 5 that was associated with the Communications and Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center at Fort Monmouth. That electronics command was transferred to Aberdeen, Md., as part of the 2005 base realignments, but Smith got the Army to agree that the federal base closing commission’s findings did not mandate transferring the flight operations, and to make a commitment to maintain the mission at Lakehurst.

    Smith said he stressed the deteriorating condition of the then-already 60-year-old wooden hangar and the ultimate need for a replacement. Keeping the Army flight operations at the Joint Base means maintaining more than 100 local jobs and increasing the chances for more work to come there in the future, Smith said. In addition to the Army's flying needs, the operation hosts contractors who work on projects. Notably, they recently delivered helicopters modified for use by Mexico's naval forces in counter-drug operations.

    The authorization is in the national Defense Authorization Act passed last week by the House Armed Services Committee, said member Rep. Jon Runyan, R-N.J., whose district includes the Joint Base.

    Last year’s military construction budget included funding for a new flight complex for the New Jersey National Guard, which is relocating its helicopters to the base.
Marine Air Group 49 with its UH-1 utility helicopters, AH-1 Cobra gunships and CH-53 heavy lift helicopters moved into a new flight complex of their own last year.

    The 2013 draft military bill also includes $7.4 million to build an Army Reserve automated infantry squad battle course on the base training ranges, Runyan said.

    This story was originally printed on May 15, 2012, and posted on the website May 16. The original posted article:

http://www.app.com/article/20120514/NJNEWS/305140077/-47-million-proposed-for-Army-flight-complex