With flexibility in training facility design becoming increasingly important, the live fire training facility known simply as Building 350 has undergone a series of additions and updates during its lifetime. Having designed the original building in 1998, Clark Nexsen was most recently tasked with the Live Fire Training Facility Renovation to increase the facility’s flexibility through the removal and upgrade of an existing, movable ballistic wall system, due for replacement as a result of typical wear and tear.
The new system gives facility personnel the ability to easily rearrange the training spaces into a nearly endless number of floor plan configurations, while still maintaining 360 degree firing capabilities. Additionally, the panel system was designed to minimize maintenance and downtime between exercises while maximizing flexibility, safety, and ease of use.
Throughout its life, a number of unique features have been designed into Building 350. The roof contains tie offs for rappelling and/or climbing the building’s walls and can also support trainees rappelling to it from helicopters. Several ship hatches allow access from the roof into the training areas below, where an adjustable ballistic wall panel system directs trainees through seamless, multistory, multiroom live fire training scenarios. There are also a number of ballistically-protected exterior access points for breach training, including a makeshift ship’s bow that is attached to one portion of the building. A separate high-bay training area is designed to contain various training simulations that require large equipment, such as vehicles or portions thereof, including buses, train cars, boats, and even a partial 747 aircraft fuselage. Walls, floors, and doors throughout the training areas are designed to receive and retain ammunition fired from small caliber sidearms through various center fire service rifles and heavy machine guns. All activities within the facility are monitored by strategically placed audiovisual equipment and controlled from a central command room.