BY TERRY JOYCE
Of The Post and Courier Staff
Congress has appropriated $12.2 million for a 54,000-square-foot building for the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Hanahan.
It will replace 23 buildings scattered across the Charleston Naval Weapons Station.
The new building will house electronic test and integration equipment together with about 225 SPAWAR employees, center spokeswoman Marsha Hassell said Thursday.
In a prepared statement, U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., said the funds were part of a military construction bill Congress passed earlier this week and sent to President Bush for his signature. The new building will let SPAWAR employees consolidate testing, engineering and administrative functions for Navy electronic systems at one location.
The project will substantially shorten the time required to get state-of-the-art technology to the fleet, Hollings said. The activities presently are housed in various buildings and temporary modular offices that resemble mobile homes.
Design and engineering functions require substantial space to replicate computer installation racks for various Navy ships that receive equipment from SPAWAR. At least one building that will be replaced dates from the World War I era, when the southern end of the weapons station was an Army depot.
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