Two new facilities to begin construction on Beale AFB

by Airman 1st Class Ramon A. Adelan
9th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs

4/3/2015 - BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Members of Team Beale and local community leaders gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony initiating the official start of construction of the 9th Civil Engineer Squadron Administration and Operations Facility and the 548th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group Distribution Common Ground System Facility at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., April 3, 2015.

Each facility will provide approximately 200 personnel the space required to efficiently meet mission objectives.

The 9th CES structure is planned to be a 43,000 square foot facility, costing $15.9 million and the DCGS facility is planned to be a two-story 85,000 square foot structure, costing $53.7 million.

The new 9th CES facility will replace the building, which was lost on Jan. 21, 2013, due to a fire. The fire destroyed furnishings, computers and engineering equipment, which reduced the squadron's mission and capabilities.

"After the fire, personnel were displaced in multiple geographically separated facilities and in temporary trailers on the civil engineer compound," said 2nd Lt. Joshua Glass, 9th CES project programmer. "The new facility will enhance the 9th CES capabilities to meet mission objectives."

The second facility is the DCGS, expanding support to the Distributed Ground Station-2, located here. These two systems will work in conjunction to meet the demand for time-critical processing, exploitation, and dissemination of actionable intelligence data in support of combat operations, as well as the ability to support contingencies worldwide and integrate new ISR technologies as they are operationally fielded.

The facility will enable operations to be conducted in properly heated, cooled, and lighted areas that are sufficiently segregated from other operations' segments to enhance productivity of personnel and mission systems.

DGS-2 has become the largest DGS in the Air Force with more than 1,400 Airmen, civilians, and contractors in five active duty and five guard and reserve squadrons.

"The DGS-2 accounts for approximately 25 percent of the Beale population," said Capt. Andrew, 548th ISRG. "The new facility will improve current DGS-2 missions, enabling our Airmen to provide world-class ISR data to combatant commanders."

In addition, the event included guest speaker, Chief Master Sgt. (Retired) John Evalle, Congressman John Garamendi's military and veteran liaison.

"The support Team Beale receives from the local community is tremendous," Evalle said. "The community is what helps keep the Beale mission going and it's an honor to be a part of the initial recognition of these two projects. These facilities represent a commitment to today's mission and the mission long into the future."