Tactical response helicopter operations facility nearly finished at Malmstrom

(Great Falls Electric) GREAT FALLS - The 341st Missile Wing held a ribbon cutting ceremony this month for a new tactical response force/helicopter operations alert facility, though construction isn’t fully complete on the $17.4 million project.

According to Malmstrom public affairs, the facility will be move-in ready later this month and it will house the 341st Security Forces Group Tactical Response Force alongside the 40th Helicopter Squadron.

The Tactical Response Force and 40th Helicopter Squadron work in tandem to provide missile field security.

The 40th will maintain control of its current facility in addition to the new facility, according to Malmstrom officials. The construction contract was awarded to Swank Enterprises in July 2018 and construction began in August 2018.

Malmstrom’s new facility that allows the TRF and helicopter operations to co-locate is a first among the Air Force Global Strike Command’s three intercontinental ballistic missile bases, according to the Air Force.

The facility will also be the location of MH-139 Grey Wolf, which is set to replace the UH-1N Hueys used across AFGSC in 2021-2022. Malmstrom is the first base slated to received the Grey Wolf.

The new helicopters coming in also required the construction of a new $18.7 million missile maintenance dispatch facility, which is about 40% complete, according to Malmstrom officials.

In June 2019, the Army Corps of Engineers awarded a contract to a joint venture between WHH Nisqually and Garco for the project and contractors broke ground last year. The missile maintenance dispatch facility is 43,500 square feet of new construction.

The new missile maintenance facility is being built because the functions that would occupy that building are being displaced from their current location in the existing three-bay hangar. That hangar is being renovated to house the new MH-139 helicopters that are coming to replace the current UH-1N Huey fleet.