Ribbon-cutting ceremony opens new ordnance storage facilities at China Lake

Tim Morehead, officer in charge of the Navy Munitions Command Detachment at China Lake, performs the ceremonial ribbon-cutting Sept. 24 at one of the nine new magazines, representing the completion of the Ordnance Storage Facility construction project. Looking on from left are Dave Janiec, director for the Weapons and Energetics Department of the Naval Air Systems Command at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, William Griswold, project manager for Soltek Pacific Construction, and Capt. Martin Smith, of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest. Photo by Mike Johnson.

Date: 04-Oct-10
News Release Number: ECL201010041

Navy leadership celebrated the opening of new ordnance storage facilities onboard Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept. 24.

"These are state-of-the-art facilities that will take us leaps and bounds ahead of the 1940s structures that they are replacing," said Capt. Rich Burr, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division vice commander.

The project includes a total of nine magazines, one metal building for inert storage and one for packing and crating, a loading dock, and expansion of parking, roads and utilities to support the new facilities.

"The additional ordnance storage capacity ensures our ability to execute the realignment of functions from various sites as dictated in the BRAC 2005 business plan," said Ruth Hogan, head of the Weapons and Armaments Implementation Team for NAWCWD.

The $19 million project is the fourth of 10 BRAC construction projects that's part of the Base Realignment and Closure 2005 plan. The BRAC 2005 plan makes China Lake the Naval Integrated Weapons and Armaments Research, Development and Acquisition, Test and Evaluation Center of Excellence.

The prime contractor on this project was Soltek Pacific Construction.

"The Navy Munitions Command Detachment China Lake stands eager to accept expanded roles and new challenges in supporting NAWCWD RDAT&E, weapons maintenance, and ultimately our warfighters," said Tim Morehead, officer in charge of NMC Det China Lake.

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