AVON PARK - Construction for the targeting systems to be used for the Avon Park Air Force Range's live bombing operations has been pushed back somewhat, but the operations are still slated to begin February 2009, a Navy spokesman said.
U.S. Fleet Forces Command spokesman Jim Brantley from Norfolk, Va. said that infrastructure should be built sometime during the summer, though he couldn't be more specific. In January, he anticipated that these installations would have been completed either in April or this month.
Negotiations on the contracts for this work took longer than originally planned.
The $1.5 million upgrades proposed for the bombing range involve the construction of roadways, towers and electronic devices used to score how well the bombers are doing.
The Navy has been trying several years to use live 500 to 2,000-pound explosives on the bombing range to better simulate the potential combat situations for pilots in their training.
In 2005, Navy officials favored Avon Park over nine other ranges partially for its central location between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Avon Park is also the largest bombing range east of the Mississippi River.
Bombers at the range currently use concrete bombs that are not as strong.
The timeline has been pushed back numerous times because its funding was not available until this year.
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