The Pentagon has given the green light for $348 million in construction work at New Jersey’s Ft. Dix and McGuire Air Force Base, as part of a consolidation of those two facilities and the Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station into one super base. Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the consolidated bases will get 2,083 new or renovated houses over six years and many older structures will be demolished. The new installation, now called Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is the largest Air Force family housing project in history and the first joint Air Force-Army housing project, according to Saxton, who also announced last month the opening of four new facilities at McGuire.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
