WPAFB, Ohio (AP) -- Ground has been broken for an Air Force research unit that will develop electronic surveillance networks to link sensor devices between ground, air, and space.

Officials at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base broke ground Wednesday on the $36 million project that will add offices, laboratories, and a testing range to the Air Force Research Laboratory. It will be ready in 2011.

The project will make room for about 100 research jobs from Rome, N.Y., and Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts.

The project is part of $332 million in ongoing construction that will allow Wright-Patterson to absorb almost 1,200 jobs in sensors research, aerospace medicine, and other programs. The consolidation was approved during the 2005 base realignment and closure review.

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