Military

INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey (USAFENS) -- It is taking a total team of permanent party and deployed U.S. Air Force members, plus military members from sister services and civilian contractors to complete multiple construction projects throughout the base here in preparation for a possible contingency operation.

According to Lt. Col. Scott Hartford, 39th Civil Engineer Squadron commander, contingency construction projects planning began last October. These projects include billeting facilities, launch and recovery pads, flightline maintenance facilities and fuel and dining facilities.

Numerous projects

The launch and recovery pads and an arm/de-arm pad are under construction on the flightline. The arm/de-arm pads will hold 10 fighter aircraft and the launch and recovery pads will each be built to hold three aircraft.

Another project is the construction of four maintenance facilities located in the loops of the flightline. They will be used for organizational maintenance of aircraft and will provide equipment staging areas.  The squadron is also constructing a road connecting the munitions storage area to the flightline.

"These are some of the 30 construction projects being worked on around the base," said Hartford. "The construction is valued at $31 million, and we're in various phases of execution on each project. Our primary focus right now is constructing additional billeting facilities to be prepared for people who may be coming in."

The additional facilities are being constructed in Hodja Village. Prime BEEF (base engineer emergency force) engineers from Langley Air Force Base, Va., and Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, began laying concrete in an area east of Hodja Village (tent city) to accommodate the additional facilities. Pre-fabricated buildings have been ordered as well which will sit on the concrete pads. While facility construction is under way, the 39th Services Squadron put in bunk beds in existing tents so people had a place to sleep.

Teamwork

"None of this would be possible without the cooperation of our Turkish hosts," Hartford said. "Getting approval was one of our biggest challenges; we got Turkish General Staff approval for most of our projects in February.  Local officials from the 10th Tanker Base Command assisted tremendously in getting those approvals."

To help speed up the contracting process, CE and the 39th Contracting Squadron got approval to use the Turkey Base Maintenance Contract as a sole source construction vehicle, and Vinnell, Brown and Root brought in a team of engineers to rapidly draw up plans and specifications for the projects. The company has been working with Turkish sub-contractors to get these projects off the ground.

End of the road

Since the beginning of the planning phase, the target date to complete these projects was mid-March. However, because of weather, funding, and construction approval delays, that has been pushed back for some of the projects.

"There are going to be some construction projects that will be completed very soon, such as the ammo road and the kitchen in the Hodja Village Clamshell," Hartford said. "Some projects will be completed in April, such as the billeting and maintenance facilities."

Thousands of hours have been invested into these projects.  In addition, VBR has rapidly renovated several facilities for contingency use, such as the 39th Wing Operations Center and a European Command Logistics and Security Assistance forward facility.

"Outstanding professionals from CE, contracting, finance, VBR, Prime BEEF and services, U.S. Navy Seabees and 10th Tanker Base, pulled together to get the job done," Hartford said. "None of this would be possible without the tremendous effort of many Team Incirlik players."

-- USAFENS --