Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., will receive $250 million of the disaster recovery funds provided in the recently passed disaster relief bill, Inside Defense reported.
The bill, signed by President Donald Trump last week, allocated the Air Force $670 million for expenses. Tyndall is expected to begin making awards for its share of the funding to rebuild base infrastructure damaged in Hurricane Michael last October.
Brig. Gen. Patrice Melancon, Tyndall’s Program Management Office executive director, said the installation will soon award contracts for smaller repair projects and to replace three key buildings: a fire station that was wiped out by the hurricane, a small arms training range and the air battle manager simulation building, according to Inside Defense.
Tyndall will also continue with current recovery repair projects, perform debris cleanup and demolition, and begin to return to the installation’s long-term recovery plan.
Col. Brian Laidlaw, commander of the 325th Fighter Wing, described the path forward for reducing operations costs at Tyndall.
“We’re going to do the same amount of mission in the future, but our intent is to do it in a smaller number of facilities that are more efficient, that are more resilient, that cost less over time to maintain operations and maintenance bills,” he said.
Air Force photo by Senior Airman Isaiah Soliz