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Funds OK’d for Ops building

  • Published
  • By Mike W. Ray
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The 2014 National Defense Authorization Bill approved by Congress and signed late last month by the president includes $12.2 million for the Air Force Reserve unit at Tinker AFB, officials confirmed recently.

Most of the funding is identified for development of an Operations building for the 513th Air Control Group, east of Bldg. 460 and on the south side of Arnold Ave.

Construction is scheduled to start in April 2014 and be finished about a year later, in March 2015, according to Brad Beam, deputy base civil engineer. The two-story building will encompass approximately 32,000 square feet of floor space, he said.

"Our three operations units are housed in two buildings on opposite sides of the base," Bldg. 1056 off Reserve Road near the junction of Hercules Road, and Bldg. 240 off A Ave. near 1st Street, related Lt. Col. Ralph Hawkins, 513th ACG executive officer.

The 513th has approximately 200 Reservists plus about 40 full-time personnel who work in Bldg. 240. "We need to be together and a lot closer to the AWACS campus," Colonel Hawkins said. The new facility will have a site on its south side to accommodate buses that will transport aircrews to the flight line, he said.

Besides Operations offices, the new building will have an auditorium designed to seat 250 people, Colonel Hawkins added.