Civil engineers at Hanscom AFB, Mass., are moving forward with plans to construct a state-of-the-art middle school on base thanks to a recent $31.6 million contract award. The 81,000-square-foot, two-story building is scheduled to open in September 2016, according to Hanscom’s Feb. 6 release. It will replace the base’s existing 1950s-era single-level middle school. “The setup of the building is going to be a little different; it won’t be your traditional classroom-by-classroom setting. There are a lot of common and open spaces,” said Erich Ledebuhr, the school’s principal. While the school is under construction, the base’s nearly 250 middle school students will use a temporary facility that workers must now erect. Plans are to construct a new primary school building after the middle school project is completed. (Hanscom report by Mark Wyatt)
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.
