(Tribune News Service) — Construction of a new semiconductor lab at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Mass., has been derailed because of “significant unforeseen site conditions” but should be finished by October 2026, U.S. Air Force officials said.

The service branch’s answer comes in response to a query by a cadre of the Bay State’s federal lawmakers, led by Democratic U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, who’d pressed for answers on the lab late last month, stressing that it meets a vital national security need.

In a statement provided to MassLive, Warren welcomed the update on the project’s progress.

“Massachusetts has long been a leader in science and technology, and I’m pleased to hear that West Lab Project’s revitalization efforts are moving forward at Hanscom Air Force Base,” Warren said. “Lincoln Laboratory’s work is critical to advance our national security and I look forward to working with my federal, state, and local partners to continue moving this project along.”

Work on the $279 million Compound Semiconductor Laboratory and Microsystem Integration Facility at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory campus has already begun. And officials will start taking bids on a separate Engineering Prototyping Facility next year, a source with knowledge of the matter told MassLive in September.

According to the Air Force, MIT’s lab at the base, which also is home 66th Air Base Group, dates to the 1950s, and it boasts “a long history of supporting the nation’s armed forces with technological advancements.”

In their letter, the lawmakers also asked the Air Force for an update on efforts to upgrade aging buildings and infrastructure at the MIT campus at the base, which “provides critical support for U.S. national security.

“The documented facility deterioration threatens [its] future ability to provide advanced mission-enabling technologies to the military,” the lawmakers wrote.

The Air Force awarded the contract for the semiconductor laboratory in February 2022, saying the project would provide a new, 161,000 square-foot compound that is “required for [the] development of advanced technologies.”

In his Oct. 17 response letter, Lt. Gen. Tom D. Miller told Warren that the Air Force shares the Bay State Democrat’s concerns “about the condition of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Research and Development Center and appreciates your support for the Compound Semi-Conductor Laboratory and Microelectronic Integration Facility (CSL-MIF) and Engineering Prototyping Facility (EPF).

“The Air Force and Army Corps of Engineers are working closely with the contractor and MIT Lincoln Laboratory to mitigate the schedule impacts and deliver a quality project to meet the Center’s critical research needs. We currently anticipate construction completion in October 2026,” Miller wrote.

The prototyping facility is “under design and scheduled to be design complete by October 2024. This project is positioned for execution in fiscal year 2025, with a current working estimate of $251 [million]. As we finalize design and work through the budgetary process, we anticipate this amount will change,” Miller wrote.

Miller concluded the letter by stressing that the Air Force “remains committed to working with you, your staff and the Massachusetts delegation to meet these critical requirements in a timely, efficient, and cost­ effective manner.”

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