Army, Guard break ground on two facilities

NORTH KINGSTOWN – The Rhode Island Army and Air National Guard last month broke ground on two new training facilities, expected to total $48 million in construction costs.
One $43 million facility, the 136,000-square-foot Army Aviation Complex, will replace the World War II-era, 64,000-square-foot aviation center.
The other facility, the $5 million Information Warfare building, will be the home of the Rhode Island Air National Guard’s 102nd Information Warfare Squadron. That unit focuses on top secret cyber-space defense in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Defense. “The addition of these two critical facilities ensures that the R.I. National Guard will remain steady, relevant and reliable well into the future,” Maj. Gen. Robert T. Bray, adjutant general of Rhode Island and commanding general of the Rhode Island National Guard, said in a statement. “The Army Aviation Complex will allow our helicopter units to expand and modernize while the 102 IWS’s new home provides the Rhode Island National Guard with a top secret facility, available to all units, while posturing them for future expansion in what is certainly the Air Force’s largest-growth industry: cyber space.”
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, who attended the groundbreaking, helped secure $43 million in federal funding for the projects. That will fund the entire Information Warfare building and $38 million of the Army Aviation Complex.
East Providence’s Bacon Construction will serve as general contractor for Army Aviation Complex, while Colchester, Conn.-based MCC Construction Corp. has been chosen as general contractor for the Information Warfare building.