DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, DEL. -- Team Dover broke ground on a new $41.2 million state-of-the-art aircraft hangar on July 31, 2020. Among those in attendance were Col. Matthew Jones, the 436th Airlift Wing commander,
Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons, Courtney McGregor, Delaware state director for Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, David Marchiori, senior vice president of Walsh Construction and Archer Western, and Lt. Col. David Park, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District commander.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provides the military construction for the Army and the Air Force.
“Our role with these military construction projects is to essentially design, award the contract and to oversee the construction to physically deliver the product,” said Park.
Now that the design and construction contracts have already been awarded, the Army Corps of Engineers’ primary function is to oversee the construction as it progresses and to ensure contract requirements are being met by providing quality assurance and quality control.
The hangar will be the first built on Dover AFB since 1983 and will be a fully enclosed fuel cell hangar. Fuel cell hangars are designed with special ventilation allowing repairs to fuel intake systems. The hangar will have state-of-the-art fire, mechanical and electrical safety measures built in to ensure the safety of the maintainers working on the aircraft.
This new hangar will also be a fully enclosed hangar, capable of housing the C-5M Super Galaxy, the largest aircraft in the Air Force inventory.
Dover AFB already has two hangars capable of fully enclosing the C-5M. However, one is fully committed to the C-5M isochronal inspection process and does not serve the fleet of C-17 Globemaster IIIs. This new hangar will serve both the C-5M and C-17, greatly reducing work hours lost due to weather restrictions.
“On average we probably get 110 days when we experience work stoppages due to high winds or inclement weather,” said Maj. Brandon Ray, 436th Maintenance Squadron commander. “This new hangar gives us a more effective way to support the warfighter.”
This hangar is one of several ongoing construction projects. These include the recently completed Type III Hydrant fuel system, which opened a month ago. The new elementary and middle school construction projects are also ongoing.
The Philadelphia District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers helps oversee all of these projects.
“We’ve had a long and great partnership with the Air Force and Dover AFB in particular,” said Park. “I think that partnership and the continued engagement we’ve had with the leadership of the installation goes a long way to pushing the Air Force’s priorities.”
Dover AFB has historically benefitted from its partnerships with not only tenant units like the Army Corps of Engineers but also the Delaware congressional delegates.
“I am personally grateful for the Air Force’s and Air Mobility Command’s persistence in prioritizing this military construction and for our legislative branch for appropriating and reprogramming, even if above threshold, this $41 million dollar project,” said Col. Matthew Jones, 436th Airlift Wing commander.
The new hangar is scheduled to be completed in December 2021.