139th News

Wing cuts ribbon on new communications building

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Michael Crane
  • 139th Airlift Wing

The 139th Airlift Wing, Missouri Air National Guard, hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony Aug. 25, 2021 to mark the completion of a new communications building.

The 14,786 square feet facility will be operated by the 139th Communications Flight, the unit responsible for the wing’s information technology infrastructure.

The new communications facility has space for offices, equipment, and rooms for training. About 4,600 square feet of space will be set aside for use by the 139th Force Support Squadron for general training support, dedicated space for the fatality search and recovery team and storage space for the base honor guard’s uniforms and equipment.

Ground work started in October 2019 after a construction contract for $5.87 million was granted to Lee Grover Construction.

In addition to the building itself, the project included construction of a storm water basin and storm water culvert that will serve the entire base. Two contracts totaling $2.81 million were granted to Missouri American Water in St. Joseph and M CON Construction in Kansas to complete this work as part of the Military Construction Cooperative Agreement.

Completion of the building marks another step toward the wing’s goal of relocating the base to the north side of the airport. In recent years, the wing has completed construction projects for a quarter mile running track, security forces building, and homeland response force (medical) building. Construction of a C-130H aircraft flight simulator facility began in October of 2020 and is currently underway. The next project currently planned is a new aircraft parking apron.