Construction Constant at Cannon Range

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Leo Brown
  • 442nd Fighter Wing public affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  Spanning 4,800 acres, Cannon Range is a playground of sorts, but the "play" that goes on there is deadly serious.

Tasked with providing realistic targets for 442nd Fighter Wing A-10 pilots and a host of other customers, the range staff uses surplus government property and simple ingenuity to produce "enemy" tanks and planes.

They even built a fake mountainside railroad tunnel entrance and a train made of trucks, trailers and six discarded fire engines.

That resourcefulness and creativity enhances military training and saves tax payers' money. The surplus property is obtained from Defense Re-utilization and marketing offices nation-wide via the Internet.

"Our supply guy, (Tech.) Sgt. (Joel) Britton, is on the official (DRMO) Website a couple hours every day looking for stuff," said Tech. Sgt. Jarrod Schomaker, the range's computer systems operator.

"You buy some stovepipe, modify a truck and slap a couple of missiles on it and call it a missile launcher," said Lt. Col. Scott Porter, the range commander. "If I want to build a Korean airfield, or if our scenario is Djoubiti or a rescue in Honduras, I really need to have 'building-block' capabilities, just like if I had a bunch of Legos.

The range sports a number of real tanks and armored personnel carriers, some of which are gutted from hundreds of strafing runs. But real vehicles tend to hinder training because they can't be moved easily while homemade items can be re-deployed on the range, thus challenging pilots to stay alert even after multiple flights over the range.

Colonel Porter said that more homemade "buildings" have popped up on the range since the fall of 2003. This is critical, given Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom.

Currently, a complex of buildings is under construction, built from shipping containers designed for tractor-trailer trucking, which will be used for many purposes, including convoy training for ground forces.