U.S. Customs and Border Protection breaks ground on AMOC expansion at March

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  • By U.S. Customs and Border Protection Public Affairs

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) broke ground today on its expansion of the Air and Marine Operations Center (AMOC) at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, Calif.  

 

Established in 1988 as the nation's only federal law enforcement center tasked to coordinate interdiction operations in the Western Hemisphere, AMOC is an international, multi-domain federal law enforcement operations center that uses sophisticated technology to detect, identify, track, and direct the interdiction of suspect aviation and maritime targets wherever they are discovered.

 

The center has been used to conduct Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and airspace security operations, response to natural disasters, covert and overt electronic target tracking and general aviation aircraft threat determination.

 

“AMOC’s mission to secure America is much more complex than ever given the dynamic threats we confront. We continuously expand our thinking and tool kit in order to mitigate our adversary’s ill intentions towards Americans,” said Tony Crowder, Acting Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner of Air and Marine Operations. “This 22,000-square-foot expansion will allow us to shift support functions from our current building and thus create more operational space to house our increases in personnel and latest generation technology.”

 

CBP worked closely with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to award an approximately $11 million construction contract to Barnhart-Reese Construction of San Diego. HNTB-Halff Joint Venture of Richardson, Texas provided design support.

 

“This is a tremendous opportunity for us,” said Loren Flossman, Director of the Border Patrol and Air and Marine Program Management Office. “We look forward to working with the Unites States Army Corps of Engineers to deliver a facility expansion that will support their current and future mission critical needs.”

 

The project should take approximately one-year to complete and will house information technology equipment and staff, administrative offices, conference and break-out rooms, and secure storage, while also providing space to additional law enforcement liaisons.

 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.