Camp Roberts broke ground on a new multi-purpose machine gun range at a ceremony on Wednesday morning.
The project is 10 years in the making and should take 18 months to complete.
The new automated state-of-the-art gun range will feature 10 brand-new shooting lanes with targets that are different in size and distance. A range tower will be installed to watch over the range along with a classroom to modernize the Garrison Training Center.
“We're bringing in new fiber optic cables to all of the target trees that'll connect back to the new range tower where the operator in the tower will be able to see who's hitting their targets and who's not," California Army National Guard Major Brian Woods said.
Thousands of National Guardsmen will be able to train at the facility.
“We have the responsibility of training two brigades at a time," Camp Roberts Deputy Commander David Hartshorn said. "In order to get that amount of people through this level of training that we're required to do on this base, this is really the answer for all of our crew serve and machine gun weapons.”
Over the past four months, trash, metal, and unexploded substances were removed from the property to make way for the new range to be built. The project cost $17 million for the construction and another several hundred thousand dollars in design work.
“There's just been a lot of work put into this and we do have a lot of work to go," Woods added. "But it's monumental the number of people that have put in time to bring us to where we are.”
According to Commander Hartshorn, there's an Army range similar to this at Fort Irwin. However, this is the first of its kind in the state for the California Military Department.
“It's also been an extreme joy to see all the representation from the community coming onto the base, and so we always appreciate the support and we're just glad that this is going to get out there so people know about what new capabilities we have here at Camp Roberts."
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place once the range is complete.
