Successful Air Force missions require strategy and collaboration to address current and future mission goals. Planning for military installations is complex and requires careful consideration. Factors influencing success include the assigned mission, conditions of the existing facilities, safety, quality of life, facility excess and shortfalls, and environmental compliance. We also consider natural, historic, and cultural resource management, and the optimization of limited resources. Resiliency and sustainability have become critical concepts driving those planning efforts.
Integrating a wide array of experienced stakeholders is an essential aspect of planning efforts. Stakeholder input throughout the complex process provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of a master planning exercise. Clients benefit from having planning facilitators with military experience who can navigate the idiosyncrasies of their inputs while keeping the goals of the charrette and documentation process moving toward the goals set out in the scope of work.
Having provided various architecture, engineering, and planning services over the 120-year history of the company Mead & Hunt has longstanding relationships with our military clients. Recently, our team had the opportunity to support Tinker Air Force Base (AFB) by producing an Airfield District Development Plan. The plan presented a summary of the district’s existing conditions and capacities to facilitate and analyze future growth options with tangible and executable projects.
Key Activities in the Tinker AFB Airfield District Planning Process
Tinker AFB is the largest air logistics center in Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC). Established as the Midwest Air Depot in 1941, it encompasses 5,588 acres just outside of Oklahoma City. The installation acts as the host site for the Air Force Sustainment Center (AFSC), providing supply chain management and support. This installation also supports the AFMC’s Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex (OC-ALC), which features two of the largest buildings within the Department of Defense (DoD) inventory and is the worldwide manager for a wide range of aircraft, engines, missiles, software, avionics, and accessory components.
This 10-month-long planning process culminated in a document summarizing existing conditions and capacities and identifying tangible future growth options. Three key activities led to this successful planning effort:
- Conducting an in-depth review of existing documentation and needs. Our team conducted stakeholder interviews and reviewed existing planning documents and building data analysis to map key planning concerns.
- Performing a program analysis. We worked with stakeholders to perform a program analysis to identify and validate the requirements that planning actions addressed in the planning workshop. The program analysis incorporated asset management principles by combining a quantitative assessment of building data that also considers specific facility requirements. The team performed the analysis to identify mission capability gaps or situations where facility requirements have not been met.
- Facilitating a series of planning workshops. These planning workshops served as a space to hear different points of view and concerns about the project. Workshops are an effective way to facilitate the planning process for military facilities. By bringing together key stakeholders, workshops can help identify key planning recommendations and development possibilities based on mission, facility requirements, and leadership priorities.
A broad range of stakeholders were involved in developing the Airfield District Plan to allow input considerations by all significant parties. They evaluated the current state of the district, determined a design framework, created alternate Courses of Action (COA) for various planning actions, and then generated alternative development plans.
The Importance of Stakeholder Engagement in Military Installation Planning
Stakeholder engagement throughout the military installation planning process is paramount. This critical contribution creates ownership and generates momentum to develop the actions required to execute the various projects successfully.
In addition to helping identify key planning recommendations and development possibilities, workshops also help build relationships between stakeholders. By working together to create a shared vision for planning military facilities, participants can better understand each other’s perspectives and priorities. This builds trust and fosters collaboration—which are critical to the success of any military planning effort.
