Mulino combat training center to be commissioned in 2nd half of 2015
MOSCOW. Dec 13 (Interfax-AVN) - Preparations are under way to commission the first phase of a combat training center of the Russian Ground Forces in Mulino, the Nizhny Novgorod region, which is being built by Main Engineering Work Directorate No. 2 of the Russian Federal Special Construction Agency (Spetsstroi).
"Three buildings, namely the combat training center's headquarters, a simulator complex, and an assembly complex, have been built and will be transferred to the customer. The center's full commissioning is planned for the second half of 2015," the press service of the Main Engineering Work Directorate No. 2 secretariat said in a statement.
It was reported earlier that the Mulino center is expected to become Europe's largest with a capacity of training over 30,000 troops each year. The new training center should serve as the base for multi-service training capable of simulating any tactical environment on a battlefield without the use of ammunition.
Spetsstroi reported officially that the combat training center will include a tactical and an administrative zone. The first and second phases of the project involve the construction of the main buildings and other installations of the administrative zone, i.e. a simulator complex, the headquarters, an assembly complex, a building for the contractor's personnel, a mess-hall, a depot, a fire station, a maintenance complex, a checkpoint, a pump station, a vehicle washing point, a shed for heavy vehicles, and transformer substations.
The third phase includes buildings and other installations of a tactical range including eight sites.
The fourth phase involves the construction of engineering networks for the administrative and tactical zone, a power generating center, a gas pipeline, and a water supply pipeline, the reconstruction of a water intake unit, and beautification.
The range covering an area of over 25 hectares will include elements of a city and a village for training Ground Forces troops.
Oleg Sirazetdinov, an acting chief of Main Engineering Work Directorate No. 2, said over 600 highly-skilled specialists and more than 90 pieces of equipment are working at the site now. The main difficulties in constructing the center include long distances between various facilities (up to 30 kilometers), and the absence of hard-surface access ways. Over 25 kilometers of provisional roads have been built, over 70 kilometers of fiber-optic communication lines and over 10 kilometers of sewage, water supply, and heating pipes have been installed, and 3,500 tonnes of metal structures, 12,000 cubic meters of concrete, 40,000 square meters of three-layer sandwich panels, and 2 million bricks have been shipped to the site.
It was reported earlier that the total cost of the construction amounted to over 7 billion rubles. The Defense Ministry plans to build three more similar training centers in other military districts.