NAS Jacksonville got a chance to unveil some of the projects it's working on this year in the annual State of the Base address.
"Whether it's supporting the war fighter, energy infrastructure, or helping the sailors and their families and their quality of life," said NAS JAX Commanding Officer Bob Sanders.
Among other plans for the upcoming years, Sanders highlighted a $3.3 million addition to the Navy Lodge, a new $6.4 million All Hands Club, where sailors and their families can go during leisure time, and the installation of synthetic turf at Sea King Park, all of which are expected to be completed by the end of this year.
"We've got a lot of new construction here, a lot of new infrastructure...anything to support the fleet, the fighter, and the family," said Sanders.
He also plugged the $47 million P-8A training facility where they'll train the air crew for the new P-8A, which will replace the P3-Orion doing maritime patrol, specifically anti-submarine warfare and recon. They rolled out the P-8A and opened the new facility in late March of this year.
Stressing conservation, Sanders mentioned an $8.9 million solar panel project in one of their hangars and a base-wide metering project that will keep an eye on energy useage levels.
Jaxport CEO Paul Anderson was there too, he says to say the Navy is important to Jaxport is not enough.
"We have an army reserve training facility on the river. We have Department of Defense facilities, one of only three in the nation...It's almost an understatement to say how huge the partnership between Jaxport, the Jacksonville community, northeast Florida, and all of these military installations."
NAS JAX contributes 2.1 billion dollars annually to the community in goods and services. It is home to seven active-duty P-3 squadrons, three reserve squadrons, and four helicopter squadrons. It is also the home of Fleet Replacement Squadron, VP-30, which is the largest squadron in the U.S. Navy.
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