New cargo plane award will boost Jacksonville economy

New cargo plane award will boost Jacksonville economy A contract for a next-generation military cargo plane has been awarded to a consortium that will build the planes at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, creating hundreds of new jobs in northern Florida.
   The U.S. Defense Department announced last week that a contract expected to total from $2 billion to $6 billion had been awarded to a consortium that includes majority partner Alenia Aeronautica of Italy, New York-based L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, and Seattle-based Boeing. The new cargo ships are designed to bring equipment into Iraq and other locations that require shorter landing areas than existing military cargo aircraft.