Cargo planes coming to Cecil; The new Joint Cargo Aircraft contract will bring hundreds of jobs.

A consortium of companies tapped to build the military's next generation cargo plane will assemble the craft in Jacksonville, bringing large-scale aviation manufacturing to the region for the first time.

The plant at Cecil Field, the former military base on the Westside, will employ about 300 people. As well as the direct jobs created, the new sector - one long sought after by the city's aviation industry, which has heretofore contained only maintenance and refurbishing jobs - is expected to bring with it a range of spin-off jobs and ancillary companies.

The Department of Defense announced late Wednesday that it was awarding the contract for the new Joint Cargo Aircraft to a group led by L-3 Communication Holdings that includes Boeing Co. and Italian aircraft manufacturer subsidiary Alenia North America. The contract, worth more than $2 billion over five years, is to supply at least 78 C-27J Spartans to the Army and Air Force.

Both branches of the military will use the twin-engine turboprop for transport missions and other short-range flights. The plane is designed to work in areas that can't be served by modern airfields.

Some steps have to be taken before the project takes flight, including allocating money, issuing incentives and building facilities.

The consortium is in the midst of building the first two C-27Js at Alenia facilities in Italy, but company spokesman Ben Stone said the Jacksonville facility will begin to be brought on line this year. The first planes assembled here should roll out in 2010, he said. As production ramps up, the contract calls for the companies to deliver 16 planes in 2010 and 23 in 2011.

"Cecil Field presented many very, very good attributes," Stone said about the site selection. "You have a highly skilled workforce, great infrastructure and motivated state and federal representatives. You welcomed us with open arms into that community."

Negotiations are still under way with regard to where at Cecil the work will be done. Boeing leases three hangars at the airfield, including two that are now empty, but the companies might also build new facilities.

The companies are also negotiating with city and state officials over possible incentive packages.

Jacksonville's role in the project is important because of the political clout of the region. Because the Joint Cargo Aircraft fills a narrow niche, said Loren Thompson, a military analyst at think tank Lexington Institute who has closely followed the JCA project, it could fall prey to other projects taking priority.

"Building the plane in Jacksonville is absolutely essential to providing a political base to keep the program on track," Thompson said. "Without the Jacksonville assembly site, it would be nearly impossible for L3 to assure the program's future in Congress."

That political muscle will be necessary in coming days, as the Pentagon goes to Congress for the money to actually fund the purchase, a step that will have to be done each year.

"There still needs to be dollars appropriated," said Michael Stewart, spokesman for the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, which owns Cecil. "There's just a few more hurdles. This is a good announcement. It's a good step in the right direction."

And it's a step, said Mayor John Peyton, that other companies are looking to take.

"I think there's more good news to come. I think this is a beginning," he said. "There's been a lot of interest in Cecil in the past few months. We're hopeful there will be more announcements to come."

[email protected] (904) 359-4103

News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.