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Hawaii Stryker brigade getting ready to roll

May- 4-2005 » Filed Under: 2/25 SBCT

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By William Cole, Honolulu Advertiser

After four years, a 3,000-page environmental impact report and a federal lawsuit, the Army’s planned Stryker brigade for Hawaii appears to be a reality.

And not a minute too soon, at least in terms of the Army’s timetable for bringing approximately 300 armored vehicles to the state, a move that will fundamentally change the way the Army operates here.

The first ground will be turned this month on a series of projects that will transform land on Oahu and the Big Island for use by the 3,818-soldier unit. The 19-ton Strykers begin to arrive a year from now, and the unit is expected to be operational in 2007.

The project, one of the Army’s biggest in Hawaii since World War II, will include the creation of 71 miles of private trails on Oahu and the Big Island, six new firing ranges, two airfield upgrades, and the purchase of 1,400 acres adjacent to Schofield Barracks.

The pace of the $1.5 billion project picked up almost immediately once the Army prevailed last week in a legal battle against three Native Hawaiian groups that filed suit in federal court to halt the brigade’s arrival.

Construction contracts worth approximately $225 million for fiscal 2005 will go out to bid in the next six months, said Ron Borne, the Army’s transformation director here. Fiscal 2006 probably will see $125 million in construction, he said. Other projects will be completed through 2010.

The first contract was a $9.2 million award to Parsons Corp. to build a small-arms qualification range on Schofield Barracks, Borne said.

The work, part of a plan to consolidate pistol, rifle and machine-gun marksmanship ranges, will include digging trenches for targets, grading, utility work and construction of an administration building and control tower.


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