A historic groundbreaking ceremony held Oct. 15 at the Magazines and Inert Storage Facility Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake officially began the first construction phase of the $2.3B Earthquake Recovery Program to restore full mission capability to NAWS China Lake and Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD).
“We officially begin the start of construction on the first of 18 Military Construction (MILCON) projects for the Earthquake Recovery Program,” said Officer in Charge of Construction (OICC) China Lake Commanding Officer (CO) Capt. Laurie Scott. “For us to be here, 15 months after the July 2019 earthquakes is a testament to the NAVFAC Southwest, NAWCWD, NAWS China Lake and the Jacobs A/E Team, as well as the City of Ridgecrest and the tremendous support from local, regional and state elected representatives.”
This first project will restore critical warfighting capabilities by constructing 25 new munition magazines and an inert storage facility built to current seismic standards that will allow for safe handling and storage of munitions now and well into the future.
The groundbreaking ceremony began with welcoming remarks by OICC China Lake Executive Officer Cmdr. Timothy Kaber, who served as the master of ceremonies, followed by remarks from both Vice President of Reyes Construction Inc. Ricardo Jimenez and Navy Munitions Command Pacific (NMCPAC) Continental United States (CONUS) West Division Executive Officer Cmdr. Lenteisa Hill, with closing statements by keynote speaker Capt. Scott.
“Reyes Construction is excited to be the prime contractor for the first major contract awarded by Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest to bring China Lake back to fully mission capable,” said Jimenez. “We will continue to work together in partnership with all team members to deliver another quality project.”
“On behalf of NMCPAC CONUS West Division, we are extremely pleased that this critical infrastructure project is on its way to be a full up round as we say in the Navy,” said Hill. “It was essential when we suffered this tragedy last year, that we rebuild in an expeditious manner that ensured we replaced what we lost to continue our mission.”
Participants in the first ceremonial groundbreaking included Capt. Scott, NAWS China Lake CO Capt. Jeremy Vaughan, Cmdr. Hill, Navy Munitions Command Detachment China Lake Director David Percifield, Ridgecrest City Manager Ron Strand, and Mr. Jimenez.
“OICC China Lake is committed to sustaining the same sense of urgency in construction execution that was demonstrated by these outstanding organizations and elected officials,” said Scott. “Now let’s get to work!”
Following Capt. Scott’s closing remarks, the ceremony participants took the ceremonial first shovel of dirt to commence the start of the magazines project and the rest of the $2.3B MILCON and repair program onboard NAWS China Lake.
NAWS China Lake is located in the Western Mojave Desert region of California, approximately 150 miles north of Los Angeles. China Lake’s mission is to support the Navy's research, testing and evaluation missions to provide cutting-edge weapons systems to the warfighter. The installation is the Navy's largest single landholding. In total, its two ranges and main site cover more than 1.1 million acres, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.
OICC China Lake was established in August 2020 to provide engineering, acquisition, and execution oversight for military construction and repair projects caused by the devastating damage from the magnitude 6.4 and 7.1 earthquakes that occurred on July 4 and 5, 2019.
| Date Taken: | 10.19.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 10.19.2020 22:32 |
| Story ID: | 381279 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, US |
| Web Views: | 311 |
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