Page 5 - Aerotech News and Review, December 3, 2021

Bed-down efforts for B-21 Raider bomber continue

by Mila Cisneros ered the planning. The location of the sion commanders on a wide scope of
JB San Antonio-Lackland, Texas installation provides the most extreme bed-down requirements for the new
and diverse weather conditions to test weapons system, and we anticipate
While work at the Northrop Grumman the temporary structures. awarding projects worth up to $410 mil-
facility in Palmdale, Calif., continues on “The installation of the prototype shel- lion at Ellsworth in the next year,” said
the B-21 Raider; and personnel at Ed- ter will collect data necessary to identify Naomi Gabriel, program manager at
wards Air Force Base, Calif., prepare to the most effective and affordable EPS AFCEC.
test the Air Force’s newest bomber; an designs for facilities to extend the life of This is a very complex program re-
Air Force center in Texas is working on the new aircraft and protect maintainers quiring careful programming, diligent
the infrastructure necessary to support the working on the aircraft on the flight line”, planning and close partnerships with
first operational aircraft. said Tom Hodges, chief of AFCEC’s stakeholders to minimize the construc-
The Air Force Civil Engineer Cen- Mobility Support Branch. tion impact and maintain continuity of
ter at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Beyond the shelter prototype activities, current B-1B operations, said Gabriel.
Texas, is leading a large-scale, multi- AFCEC continues bed-down planning at Specifically, Ellsworth will receive
year facilities construction project to de- Ellsworth and expects to finalize the de- a mission operations planning facility,
liver infrastructure needed to support the Northrop Grumman image sign for mission-critical infrastructure training and flight simulator facilities,
bed-down of the B-21 Raider stealth An artist’s rendering of a B-21 Raider in a hangar at Ellsworth Air Force Base, over the next five to ten years. wash rack and general maintenance han-
bomber, the future backbone of the Air S.D., one of the future bases to host the new airframe. The program will account for every- gar, warehouses and equipment storage
Force bomber fleet. thing from new buildings to supporting in addition to new roads, parking and
The B-21 Raider will incrementally and sustainable infrastructure solutions AFCEC has been working hand-in- infrastructure with a mix of military airfield infrastructure.
replace the B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit to required to successfully accomplish mis- hand with Air Force Global Strike Com- construction, and operations and main- So far, AFCEC, in partnership with
perform both conventional and nuclear sions of national defense.” mand, the DAF Rapid Capabilities Of- tenance projects. USACE, AFGSC and the 28th Civil En-
missions alongside the B-52 Strato- In 2019, the Secretary of the Air Force fice, the Air Force Installation and Mis- “It is a large construction program for gineer Squadron, awarded construction
fortress. As the Air Force transitions announced that the preferred locations for sion Support Center’s Detachment 10 a single base which is always challeng- for an approximate $130 million low-ob-
to a two-bomber fleet, the strategy to the B-21 Raider are Ellsworth AFB, S.D., and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ing,” Hodges said. “We are well into the servable restoration facility at the South
bed-down the new B-21 bomber has Whiteman AFB, Mo., and Dyess AFB, to ensure infrastructure is in place at all planning and design stages for many Dakota installation on Sept. 17, 2021.
been to minimize operational impacts, Texas. After completing the require- MOBs to support this critical combat ca- projects that are expected during fiscal It will provide a new state-of-the-art,
maximize reuse of existing facilities and ments within the National Environmen- pability when the first aircraft is delivered years 2022 – 2024 and will soon begin 90,000 square-foot, two-bay facility with
reduce overhead as much as possible. planning for projects we anticipate for paint booth type functionality to support
“Maintaining the lethality and readi- tal Protection Act and the Environmental to Ellsworth AFB in the mid-2020s. FY25 and beyond. We will be award- B-21 weapons system maintenance and
ness of Air and Space Forces’ requires Impact Statement, in June 2021, the Air As the program makes steady progress ing five more construction contracts in operations. Construction will also include
continuous sustainment and moderniza- Force signed a Record of Decision offi- through the engineering and manufactur- 2022.” airfield paving, site features and support-
tion of mission-critical infrastructure,” cially naming Ellsworth AFB as the first ing development phase, Ellsworth AFB, Overall, the Air Force is projecting ing infrastructure.
said Col. Dave Norton, deputy director of B-21 Main Operating Base, or MOB. A South Dakota, was selected as the test a $1 billion investment at Ellsworth to New construction to meet Raider
AFCEC’s Facility Engineering Director- second NEPA/EIS is anticipated to begin site to construct a temporary prototype meet warfighter demands for bomber mission requirements at Ellsworth is ex-
ate. ”AFCEC partners with the Depart- in 2022 to assess the selection for the sec- Environmental Protection Shelter in airpower. pected to be completed over the next five
ment of the Air Force to deliver resilient ond and third MOBs. March 2020, for which AFCEC deliv- “We are actively working with mis- to 10 years.

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