The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District completed a new Indoor firing range at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota this month. This $24.5 million project included demolition of the existing outdoor firing range, and new construction of a state-of-the-art combat arms training and maintenance facility with over three dozen indoor firing lanes. This new facility helps Minot’s airmen and women train in safer conditions and meet requirements to secure the Nation.
Minot Air Force Base opened in 1957. Since then, the base has been fully operational with an open-air, outdoor firing range. For more than sixty years, airmen and women have been exposed to weather elements that often limit their chances to gain certification in standard trainings. The cornerstone of USACE’s mission is to provide engineering solutions to the nation’s toughest challenges. Ultimately, security is the foundation of peace, and strengthening the military’s ability to defend the Nation’s freedoms by providing the best equipment, facilities, and support is the goal.
The groundbreaking for the new indoor range took place in August 2019, and in just over two years was completed. The modernized facility provides 39 indoor lanes, a controlled climate, and a safe operating, work environment for the instructors and servicemen.
“We are grateful to provide a facility that our client can conduct their training operation anytime of the year without interruptions from weather,” Jay D. Klaassen, Minot Resident Engineer, Omaha District, said. “In the past, high winds would shut down training when using the outdoor firing range.”
Some features and building control systems of the new range include, sound absorption, electronic targets managed by a trained weapons instructor, state of the art air flow, ventilation, heating, and cooling system, weapons cleaning room, and a storage vault.
“Our office is a couple of miles from the outdoor range. When they were shooting, it would sound like they were next door,” Wayne Foster, Contracting Officer Representative, Construction Inspection, Omaha District,” said. “The new facility absorbs sound, and now the base operations will not be disturbed by noise –I’m sure the residents at Minot are happy.”
The Omaha District's key military focus is the design, construction, and revitalization of facilities essential to our nation's defense and the overseas contingency operations.