Less money for Air Force construction in 2011 - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Less money for Air Force construction in 2011

You’ll see fewer concrete trucks this year as the Air Force will get fewer bucks for construction.

The Air Force will receive $1.49 billion for fiscal 2011, about $920 million less than for fiscal 2010. The total includes $1.29 billion for the active-duty force and overseas bases, $195 million for the Air National Guard and $7.8 million for Air Force Reserve Command.

For all the services, the military construction budget is $13.7 billion. The 2010 total was $13.5 billion.

Totals do not include money set aside for family housing construction, base realignment and closure, and study, planning, design and engineering services for future projects.

The biggest drop in construction spending for the Air Force will be in Afghanistan — 91 percent. The service is slated to make $43 million in improvements to Bagram Airfield. The amount spent in Afghanistan in 2010: $475 million.

No projects are slated for Iraq, where the U.S. plans to withdraw most troops in the next 12 months.

The largest single project is a new home for the Air Force Technical Applications Center at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla.

The center, the 800-person agency making sure nations meet nuclear weapons treaty obligations, will get a 276,000-square-foot office building and an adjacent six-story parking garage to replace its half-century-old headquarters.

Congress approved $158 million for the project, scheduled for completion in 2013.

Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, is getting $62.3 million to build two dormitories, each with about 200 units, and medical administrative buildings, according to the Air Force’s budget request.

Al Udeid has 13 dormitories built or under construction, although about half the 6,200 airmen assigned there live in “temporary” quarters erected in 2003. The long-term plan calls for 25 dormitories.

In anticipation of the F-35 Lightning II’s arrival, the service will spend about $140 million for hangars and training facilities at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.; Hill Air Force Base, Utah; Luke Air Force Base, Ariz.; and Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.