Jan De Nul: Foundation stone laid at Florennes F-35 complex

Defence has chosen to build a quasi-identical centralised F-35 complex on each base. This complex will exist out of four big parts:

• The administrative part contains, apart from the necessary office- and meeting spaces, all needed infrastructure for the contemporary comfort of the personnel: dressing rooms with showers, a cafeteria, coffee corners, etc.
• The logistic part contains a storage area for spare parts and infrastructure for the maintenance of the F-35A with six maintenance docks and houses the necessary workshops such as those for the maintenance of the engines.
• The Special Access Program Facility (SAPF) is the most secure part of the F-35 complex. This is where training and operations are planned, and where the flight simulators will be located, four per base. This part of the infrastructure requires specific attention and a coordinated approach with US partners. After all, the installations involved in it must meet the high US safety standards. Moreover, on a purely technical level (including the flight simulators), these installations require an environment that meets very specific HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) requirements.
• The flightline of the F-35 complex will be equipped with sixteen Flightline Aircraft Shelters (FAS) where the jets will be placed in a secure environment and where front-line servicing can also take place. Four of these sixteen shelters will serve specifically for the QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) mission: the QRA-FAS. Close to the QRA-FAS will be a Ready Storage Building (RSB) to store the armament for the QRA. The whole will be connected to the base’s existing infrastructure via an Apron and Taxiway.

The mentioned new-build infrastructure will be planned in a close and logical relationship with the existing infrastructure. This will result in a coherent and secure F-35 complex that will function as an enclosed entity within the base.

For the realisation of this project, a public-private partnership was put in place under the form of a Design, Build & Maintain (DBM). A negotiated procedure with publication was conducted with three consortia of contractors in 2020 and 2021. The winning consortium submitted the best price-quality bid.

This consortium is not only responsible for the design and realisation, but also for the technical maintenance of the infrastructure for 10 years after provisional delivery (optionally extendable by an additional 10 years). A first partial provisional handover of the buildings in Florennes is scheduled for summer 2024.

Dedonder: “Let’s not beat about the bush here either: this new infrastructure is a huge investment for Defence, which, moreover, has turned out to be a whole lot bigger than initially envisaged. But it is an important investment, as I said, in the future of our air component and in the well-being of the personnel. Indirectly, it is also a major investment in our Belgian economy.”

Major General Lieven VANHESTE, head of DG MR C&I: “Meanwhile, the important Design Review phase, in which the design was finalised in close cooperation between the infrastructure designer and Lockheed Martin’s aircraft designer, was completed in a record time of just 8 months. The proposed concept will not only meet the technical and functional requirements needed to conduct operations and maintain the F-35A but also addresses sustainability, safety, and personnel welfare.”

The project is also doing more than its bit to combat climate change: for example, this new building complex will be very well thermally insulated and heat will be generated via geothermal heat pumps.