WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Construction is getting under way for an expanded Air Force Research Laboratory sensors directorate, the latest project to accommodate hundreds of research jobs that will relocate to the base by September 2011.

A ground-breaking ceremony for the $36 million project is scheduled at 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 1, in Area B of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Butt Construction Co., a Dayton-based contractor, is leading the construction project. Occupancy of the new structure is planned for April 2011.

The project will add about 91,000 square feet and alter 56,000 square feet of the AFRL’s existing sensors complex. The work will allow units of the sensors directorate currently at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., and Rome, N.Y., to relocate to Wright-Patterson.

The move is part of the national 2005 base realignment and closing plan approved by Washington. Wright-Patterson is to realize a net gain of about 1,200 jobs as it absorbs aerospace medicine, sensors research and other programs currently located at other federal properties.