Letterkenny celebrates project completion with Corps of Engineers
- By Pam Goodhart
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — Leaders and team members from Letterkenny Army Depot, the Baltimore District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the local community gathered Wednesday to dedicate a recently completed military construction project at the depot.
“This facility offers tremendous added capability to the depot and its mission,” said Letterkenny’s commander, Col. Stephen Ledbetter. “The plan is to get all of our facilities to look this way.”
The Metal Treatment Annex consists of a 45,040-square-foot addition to house metal-treatment and surface-preparation operations previously performed inside the depots’ largest manufacturing and maintenance facility. The addition houses a wash bay, metal treatment tanks, sanding area, blast booths and surface repair areas, all of which support Letterkenny’s core missions.
“It took a lot of people and a lot of effort to make this building we’re in today,” said Baltimore District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Commander Col. John Litz. “This is the facility that the men and women of Letterkenny Army Depot deserve for what they contribute to national defense.
“As we plan projects, I know there will be future investments at Letterkenny, and I look forward to being a part of that.”
The concept for the project originated in July 2007, with a goal of improving the work environment by segregating sandblasting, chemical solvent degreasing, steam cleaning, power washing and sanding into a separate facility. The project will help eliminate backlogs in cleaning and surface preparation by providing sufficient floor space for an additional blast booth and efficiencies from consolidating similar processes.
As an added benefit, relocating the existing metal treatment tanks and associated cleaning equipment allows reuse of existing floor space.
The design was completed by the in-house design staff of the Engineering Division of the Baltimore District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in July 2015, and the contract was awarded to Odyssey International in September 2015 in the amount of $14.451 million.
Letterkenny is one of the largest employers in Franklin County, Pa., and is the premier location for maintenance of air defense and tactical missile ground support equipment used by the Department of Defense around the world.