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Fighter test flights to start soon
Workforce pumping up at Patuxent River NAS, county commissioners told
Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009
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The first Joint Strike Fighter jets are about to arrive at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, as soon as mid-October, the St. Mary's County commissioners were told Tuesday morning. There will be five F-35B fighters with 2,200 test flights scheduled and three F-35C carrier version jets to have 300 test flights over the life of the program at the base.
Six months ago, there were about 100 Lockheed Martin contractors here to support the program, said Lt. Col. Fred Schenk. Now there is a workforce of 320 contractors. When the local program peaks in the spring, there will be about 600 personnel supporting the project. Some of the contractors came from the canceled presidential helicopter program, Schenk said.
The flight patterns won't change around the Navy base when the fighters are tested, he said, but there will be vertical flight testing at the center of the base's two main runways.
"We'll minimize that exposure over populated areas," he said.
"We're almost here. We're ready to go," he said.
Eight of the 12 fighters being tested will come to Patuxent River, said John Savich, administrator of St. Mary's County government.
The first of the three P-8 multi-mission aircraft are coming to the base by May, which will eventually replace the P-3, said Capt. Michael Moran. He said of the P-3 fleet, "It's just a workhorse out there, but it's struggling." The average age of a P-3 is 28 years and it is hoped they will last until 2018, he said. The P-8 program should bring in about 120 new contractor jobs on a temporary basis, he said.
With the new aircraft being tested is coming new data on noise outside of the base's gate. That information will be used to determine if the county's zoning regulations need to be changed to provide an additional buffer against dense development under flight paths.
The county's comprehensive growth plan is being updated now and it adds stronger language to protect the Air Installation Compatible Use Zone around Pax River. The first AICUZ was zoned in St. Mary's in 1977.
An AICUZ study was done for Webster Field in St. Inigoes, but was never zoned. A new study has been completed and the comprehensive plan intends to zone an AICUZ around Webster Field.
Also outside Gate 2 of Pax River, work continues in the neighborhood of Patuxent Park off Great Mills Road to replace its water, sewer and road infrastructure. The water and sewer lines in the first phase near Nicolet Park should be finished by December, said Robin Finnacom, director of the Community Development Corporation, which oversees Lexington Park redevelopment.
A $7.2 million streetscaping project to improve Great Mills Road from Coral Drive to St. Mary's Square begins this month as well.
