KINSTON – Fleet Readiness Center East’s new military aircraft maintenance complex at the North Carolina Global TransPark is scheduled to open Sept. 17, with more than 400 jobs planned and $400 million in projected regional investment.
WCTI reported that the C-130/HH-60 maintenance, repair and overhaul complex will officially open at 10 a.m. at MRO Hangar 3 on N.C. 58 North. The Global TransPark is a state-owned industrial park operated by the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
The Navy and Marine Corps will use the facility to maintain and repair C/KC-130J Super Hercules and C/KC-130T Hercules aircraft. The complex will also support the Air Force’s HH-60W Jolly Green II combat-rescue helicopter.
NCDOT projected more than 400 new jobs and $400 million in new regional investment when officials broke ground in June 2024. The agency described a 700,000-square-foot complex, while a May 2026 Naval Air Systems Command announcement described the completed program footprint as a 750,000-square-foot facility.
State lawmakers approved $350 million in funding in 2023 for Global TransPark site improvements supporting the facility. The Navy signed a long-term lease April 15 covering 65 acres, and NAVAIR said aircraft-maintenance support was scheduled to begin in September.
NAVAIR estimated that the state-Navy arrangement avoided about $700 million in federal costs and shortened the construction timeline by more than half. The project addresses the Navy’s need for an East Coast C-130 maintenance facility and expands depot capacity for both the C-130 and HH-60W.
The scheduled opening is a facility milestone, but it does not establish that every projected job has been filled or that every maintenance line is operational. The available sources do not provide a completed hiring count as of Sept. 16.
Fleet Readiness Center East is based at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. NAVAIR reported in May that the operation had more than 3,600 civilian, military and contract workers and annual revenue exceeding $865 million.