Officials gather for a ceremony Tuesday marking the start of a $52 million construction project for Field Support Brigade-Livorno, Italy. The project will result in new workshops for tracked and wheeled vehicles and new office space. (C.W. Fick Jr. / Courtesy of U.S. Army)
The Army Materiel Command Field Support Brigade-Europe broke ground on a $52 million project Tuesday to modernize its facilities at the Leghorn Army Depot in Livorno, Italy.
When complete, the upgrade will improve the delivery of combat-ready equipment and materiel to troops in the field, officials said.
“Our focus for the past few years has been on providing support directly to combatant forces, and not purely to pre-positioned stocks,” brigade spokesman Charles Fick said.
“The equipment we work on is coming from the fighting forces that have been in combat for the last year or more, and the renovations and repairs are extensive. It’s not just a Jiffy Lube and tuneup.”
The facilities at the depot date to the 1950s. When finished in 2007, there will be new workshops that can repair everything from tracked or wheeled vehicles to generators, water purification units and bulldozers, Fick said, citing a few examples of the brigade’s capabilities.
Field Support Brigade-Livorno also will have seven new humidity-controlled warehouses, 10 renovated warehouses, new administrative space and improved infrastructure such as roadways, Fick said.
“New facilities will enable us to accomplish our Army pre-positioned stocks and reset work more efficiently and safely,” Norman Jasper, FSB-LI civilian executive assistant, said in a statement.
For example, Livorno’s current facility has no overhead lift, “which makes removing engines more cumbersome and time-consuming,” Fick said.
The command’s 1,600 civilian and military personnel are stationed in Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Navy engineers will oversee the project because the U.S. Navy holds oversight authority for military construction in Italy.
