SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (USTCNS) - The United States Transportation Command broke ground April 3 for the command's new facility on Scott Air Force Base, Ill. The building, to be located behind the current USTRANSCOM headquarters building is due to be completed by 2010.
"Not many people actually know what goes on here at Scott Air Force Base, and that's OK," said Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, USTRANSCOM commander. "The truth is, that it is really the engine of the Department of Defense capability to move forces, to sustain our troops when they're in the field, to operate our aeromedical evacuation capability, and of course, it's a business. We need a facility that will enable this enterprise to function with far greater efficiency.
"Those of you that are in business know," Schwartz continued, "supply chain is a science, in that instead of doing our work based on experience and intuition, as valuable as that is, that there is a necessity here to organize ourselves in a way that allows us to operate much more like the best companies in the country, and that is exactly what this marvelous facility will allow us to do."
The nearly 180,000 square foot, three-story facility will serve a number of functions for USTRANSCOM and its ground component, the U.S. Army's Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, or SDDC.
According to Steven Coyle, transformation task force director for USTRANSCOM, in addition to housing SDDC's permanent headquarters and numerous USTRANSCOM staff elements, the new facility will provide a joint operations center to house the fused USTRANSCOM Operations Center. This will include planning functions of the Air Force Tanker Airlift Control Center, SDDC, the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) and the USTRANSCOM Deployment Distribution Operations Center, as well as other key partners in the Defense Transportation System.
The new building will also provide a new home for the Joint Distribution Process Analysis Center, a consolidation of select USTRANSCOM staff, Air Mobility Command staff, and SDDC Transportation Engineering Agency personnel.
In addition, the contract contains a project option to provide a 28,000 square-foot addition for a new Joint Intelligence Operations Center (JIOC). SDDC and MSC, with its headquarters in Washington, D.C., are two of three component commands of USTRANSCOM. The other is the Air Force's Air Mobility Command, also at Scott Air Force Base.
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