![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Global-Transpark-ribbon-cutting-edit.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\u201cNorth Carolina aims to be the most military friendly state in the nation,\u201d Governor Stein said. \u201cThat includes supporting servicemembers, veterans, their families, and our military installations. This military readiness complex will not only strengthen our military, but it will also create hundreds of good-paying jobs in eastern North Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The military will use the facility to maintain, repair and overhaul several military aircraft. Those include the Navy and Marine Corps C\/KC-130J Super Hercules and C\/KC-130T Hercules military transport aircraft and Air Force HH-60W Jolly Green II advanced combat search and rescue helicopters. The Navy is leasing the facility from the Global TransPark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Navy expects to employ more than 400 people at the facility in high-skilled jobs and generate $164 million a year for the eastern North Carolina economy. The Kinston facility is part of the Fleet Readiness Center East at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, where the military overhauls, assembles and tests military aircraft. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thursday\u2019s event was one of the largest announcements in the history of the Global TransPark, a multimodal industrial park owned and managed by the N.C. Department of Transportation. Officials estimate more than 500 people gathered inside the facility, which is roughly the size of 12 American football fields under one roof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Global TransPark was first envisioned over 30 years ago as a multimodal industrial park that could become a catalyst to drive the economy of eastern North Carolina,\u201d State Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson said. \u201cWith the completion of this project and several other economic development wins, the Global TransPark is taking another major step toward realizing that goal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Behind the stage stood a C\u2011130 and an HH\u201160, forming a commanding backdrop of the military hardware that will soon be made mission\u2011ready at the new facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to the governor and Johnson, Thursday\u2019s speakers included former N.C. Senator Jim Perry and Erica Plath, deputy assistant Secretary of War for Logistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new complex follows a string of economic development announcements at the Global TransPark, including May\u2019s opening of an academy for Lenoir Community College students seeking careers in aviation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis state-of-the-art facility represents a commitment by the U.S. Navy, by Fleet Readiness Center East, and by partners at every level of government \u2013 to invest in eastern North Carolina, to create hundreds of skilled jobs and to anchor long-term economic growth in this region,\u201d said GTP Executive Director Jeremy Stroud, who served as the event\u2019s emcee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The idea for the C-130 complex started in 2020. The Navy selected GTP because the park could accommodate a facility large enough to maintain and repair large military aircraft and the park was centrally located on the East Coast, which maximizes the branch\u2019s military readiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe opening of this major C-130\/HH60 MRO facility and Lenoir Community College\u2019s Aviation Center for Excellence, coupled with the arrival of Airbus, all within nine months\u2019 time, marks a historic watershed moment for the North Carolina Global TransPark,” said Tom Hendrickson, chairman of the GTP Authority Board of Directors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
State lawmakers approved a $350 million loan in 2023 to make accommodations for the facility. Most of the construction on the first phase of the complex, which began in March 2024, has been completed with final work expected to be finished next summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis facility puts peace through strength into action \u2013 more mission-ready aircraft, faster, for the warfighters who need them,\u201d said U.S. Marine Corps Maj. General David Walsh, deputy portfolio acquisition executive (Aviation) for Marine Corps Aviation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More than 400 jobs are coming to Kinston, thanks to a new U.S. Navy aircraft maintenance facility at the North Carolina Global TransPark. Last week, Governor Josh Stein and other dignitaries welcomed the U.S. Navy to the TransPark\u2019s newest hangar for the opening of the Navy\u2019s Fleet Readiness Center East C-130\/HH-60 MRO Complex. \u201cNorth Carolina […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[33,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-airports","category-north-carolina"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36610,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36608\/revisions\/36610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}