NewsCastle
Los Angeles District
Vol. 43 No. 11
A monthly publication of the Los Angeles District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
November 2013
LA District helps Luke prepare for F-35 arrival
Daniel J. Calderón
LUKE AFB, Ariz. – The U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District
is working with Luke Air Force Base to
prepare for the arrival of the new F-35
fighter planes which are due to arrive in
2014. Luke will serve as the bed down
base for the incoming squadrons.
“The Corps has never let us down,”
said Tauny Woo, engineering flight
chief for Luke AFB. “The relationship
with the Roadrunner Resident Office is
great. The support we get and the level
of personal support makes me feel like
a valued customer and user. The team
here listens to us and moves to resolve
any issues that might come up during a
project. It just doesn’t get any better.”
The District has four military construction projects currently underway
to support the six squadrons which are
due to arrive with two MilCon projects
about to advertise this coming year, two
more under design and three coming
this spring for concept development.
One project under construction is the
Aerial Maintenance Unit #1/Squadron
Operations Building project.
“This facility is for the storage of
aerial maintenance equipment,” said
Clinton Griffin, the District’s construction representative for the project who
works at the Roadrunner Resident
Office on Luke AFB. “We’re at around
80 percent right now.”
Griffin said the project, which was
originally only the AMU building, now
integrates both buildings into one construction assignment which is due for
turnover in December. Both buildings
are being constructed to meet Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design
Silver standards as set by the U.S.
Green Building Council. The AMU will
contain approximately 12,500 square
feet of space and the Squad Operations
Building will encompass approximately
30,000 square feet. Royce C. Morton,
Workers lay in underground utilities for the Academic Training Center the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District is building on Luke Air Force Base. When it is completed, the ATC will
enclose 145,000 square feet of training area with an administrative side, which includes a large
auditorium, and a simulator side, which includes 12 simulators and associated control facilities
for the pilots. (Daniel J. Calderón)
uled to take 540 days from start to
project manager for the joint venture of
the Renew Group and Mason & Hanger, finish; however, Griffin and the rest of
the District team worked it down to 365
said the facility is designated as the
flagship of its kind since it will be one of days. Royce said Oct. 8 marked 365 days
without a recordable accident.
the first to go in.
“It’s a milestone for us,” he said.
“A lot of the items are very specific
“All the subcontractors and the Corps
to the F-35 program,” Morton said. “The
worked together to make it possible.”
project is designed to be the tip of the
In order to meet such milestones,
spear in terms of overall support for the
District team members had to engage
Air Force program. A lot of the protocol
in coordination meetings to meet the
we’re using here is being established
deadlines for the various construction
for the construction methods for future
buildings.”
The project was originally sched- LUKE AFB from Page 1 -