DAYTON, Ohio (AP) The U.S. government on April 16 awarded a $195 million contract to build research facilities at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the largest single contract in the $332 million construction program.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded the contract to Butt Construction Co. of Dayton and its partner, Archer Western Contractors Ltd., a part of the Chicago-based Walsh Group.

It is the largest single military construction contract ever awarded by the corps’ Louisville district, which includes military facilities in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan.

The two companies will serve as prime contractors to build the complex by the spring of 2011.

The two buildings in the complex will house aerospace medicine programs that will relocate from San Antonio, Texas, and take up about 700,000 sq. ft.