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On Target

A missile defense field in the Alaskan interior has demanded Bechtel's talent for outwitting the elements.

By Amy Mason Doan

Fort Greely, Alaska, is a welcoming place in summer. Temperatures of 32 degrees Celsius are not unusual. The sun shines on moose and caribou herds drinking at hundreds of criss-crossing rivers and streams. The wind ruffles through dense forests of black spruce, birch, and poplar. But one glance up at the peaks of the nearby Alaska Range, tipped with snow 365 days a year, reminds everyone that an arctic winter is always just around the corner. Mercury dipping to minus 50°C and gale-force winds can make this stretch of the Alaskan interior a forbidding landscape from November through April. The fact that the spot is so icy and isolated half the year makes the success of the Fort Greely missile defense project a credit to Bechtel and its subcontractors. “From the beginning, it was clear to all parties that the Alaskan location would be a challenge,” says Mike Hayner, project manager. “Boeing officials considered Alaska the biggest challenge in the complex GMD program, and they were impressed that we made it look so easy.”

Fort Greely was the logical place for the main site of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system. From this extreme northern latitude, missile-launched interceptors can reach the path of almost any long-range enemy missile heading for the United States. The completion of the first phase of work at Fort Greely this year gives the country its first operating antimissile system in three decades.

Bechtel is handling project management and related infrastructure for Boeing, which signed a U.S. Department of Defense contract for the GMD system four years ago. In addition to its work in Alaska, Bechtel is providing contract management for related antimissile systems at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and other test locations.

In order to meet a presidential mandate for deployment of the initial capability by the end of September 2004, the interceptor missile and its supporting ground systems had to be developed concurrently. As specifications for the interceptors changed, Bechtel had to modify its installations at Fort Greely.

The remote location, challenging weather, and evolving requirements of the very fast-paced GMD program would be daunting for some companies. For Bechtel, it’s business as usual, and the project is right on schedule. Six missiles already are in silos deep in the glacial moraine of Fort Greely, ready to propel interceptors that can pinpoint and shoot down enemy warheads. Current plans call for as many as 34 additional silos at Fort Greely and perhaps others at as-yet undetermined locations, all wired into a global network of tracking radar and satellites.

With the average winter temperature at Fort Greely below freezing, outdoor construction is limited to the six months from May through October. So when the project started in March 2002, Bechtel had to complete designs quickly. “Costs would have gone out of sight if we hadn’t hit that first summer construction gate, and we would not have made our schedule,” says Hayner.

The team is constantly thinking about ways to make the most out of every work-hour available during the tight construction season. A 316-square-meter mechanical-electrical building shell and 550 meters of heated underground utility passages were the first priority, since they allowed work to proceed indoors during the colder months.

Despite the unfriendly environment, the project has achieved an outstanding safety record—more than half a million work hours with no lost-time incidents. In the spirit of the GMD program, the safety team calls itself the ROCKETS (Responsible Observers Can Keep Employees Together Safely) and says its mission is “to intercept at-risk behavior through observation and launching positive feedback.”

To minimize costly on-site fabrication and avoid the vagaries of the weather, Bechtel teamed with Oregon Iron Works to construct and test the missile silos and silo interface vaults (SIVs) in a Clackamas, Oregon, factory. In addition to saving time and money, the approach guaranteed a level of quality that could not have been achieved in the field.

Each completed unit includes four massive pieces—a 3x23-meter silo, the 6x6x12-meter SIV that links the interceptor with communications and guidance equipment, a system to hold the interceptor in place, and a rapid-opening door system.

Early in the manufacturing process, production of the SIVs was improved by changing from an I-beam frame material to tubular steel. That enabled more efficient and higher quality welding and helped meet stringent requirements for shielding against high-altitude electromagnetic pulses. So far, 12 SIVs have been fabricated and tested, and all have passed on the first try. All of the other components also undergo rigorous performance testing. Once complete, the units take a 10-day trip on barges from Portland to Valdez, Alaska. It takes another two days to truck the silos over the Thompson Pass to Fort Greely.

Digging out the holes for the silos required creative thinking. The soil of Fort Greely is shifting, sandy, and studded with gravel, which makes it tricky to scoop out a shaft of the proper dimensions. One approach considered was to excavate pits much wider than necessary, lower the silos into place, and pack the earth back around the silo walls, but that would have involved additional work and extended the construction schedule. Instead, Bechtel teamed with the excavation industry to develop a method that would save time and money, minimize the complications presented by loose soil, and limit crane work and outdoor exposure.

The approach used concrete piles similar to those used to construct large retaining walls. The 1-meter-wide piles were placed in the ground around the perimeter of the silo shaft to serve as a temporary retaining structure. Then a large auger was used to excavate the hole for the silo. The result is an efficient method for digging cylinder-shaped cavities just big enough to house the silos. What was originally viewed as one of the more difficult challenges facing the project was reduced to a simple process that has helped save time and money.

Once the shafts are ready, two large cranes lower the silo parts into their slots and the components are connected. Most of the final wiring and on-site checks can be performed out of the elements. But no matter what the temperature, a pioneer-style work ethic has been essential. And it has paid off with a project arriving right on target.