The Oregon National Guard and United States Navy have begun construction on a $12 million military training facility near Boardman, advancing a project more than two decades in development that will establish Oregon’s first Army standard range dedicated to qualification with crew served weapons.
Military officials broke ground Sept. 9 on the 10 lane Multi Purpose Machine Gun Range at the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility Boardman in Morrow County. The project represents a joint undertaking involving the Oregon Military Department, Oregon Army National Guard, Department of the Army and Department of the Navy at one of the Pacific Northwest’s longstanding military training installations.
Upon completion, the range will provide Oregon Army National Guard soldiers with an in state facility meeting Army qualification standards for several major crew served weapons. Oregon soldiers currently travel primarily to military installations near Yakima, Washington, and Boise, Idaho, because existing ranges within Oregon cannot accommodate all of the required qualification exercises.
The Boardman range will support training and qualification with the M240 7.62 mm machine gun, the M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun and the MK19 40 mm grenade machine gun. Military planners have also incorporated provisions for the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program and 6.8 mm ammunition, allowing the installation to accommodate evolving weapons and qualification requirements.
Plans call for six walk in firing lanes and four vehicle fighting positions within the 10 lane complex. Additional infrastructure includes a range control tower, target storage building, classroom, covered mess area, ammunition breakdown building, covered bleachers, target emplacements, utilities and other equipment necessary to operate the facility.
Oregon Military Department planning documents specify that the construction must comply with applicable military, federal, state and local standards. The completed facilities are designed for a minimum anticipated service life of 50 years.
The range is expected to serve units throughout the Oregon Army National Guard, including soldiers assigned to the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, the 82nd Troop Command Brigade and personnel whose training requirements are associated with the 249th Regional Training Institute.
Its construction addresses a persistent limitation within Oregon’s military training infrastructure. Existing machine gun ranges in the state do not satisfy current Army standards for all required crew served weapons qualifications, according to Oregon Military Department planning records. Soldiers assigned to affected units have consequently traveled outside Oregon to obtain required training.
Brig. Gen. Alan R. Gronewold, The Adjutant General of Oregon, addressed the operational and financial consequences of those trips during the groundbreaking ceremony.
“That travel costs time, costs money, and it pulls our soldiers away from being available here at home when the state needs them most,” Gronewold said. “This range changes that.”
Keeping those qualifications within Oregon will reduce the transportation, scheduling and logistical requirements associated with sending soldiers to military facilities in neighboring states. National Guard personnel simultaneously maintain federal military responsibilities and state obligations that can include activation during wildfires, natural disasters and other emergencies.
The project reaching construction in 2026 traces its formal development to August 2004, when the Department of the Army, Department of the Navy and Oregon Military Department entered into a license agreement associated with the Boardman facility.
Military planning documents subsequently identified the range during development cycles in 2007, 2015, 2025 and 2026. The project remained in planning as federal and state military agencies worked through environmental requirements, financing, design and coordination among multiple commands and government entities.
That process included an environmental impact statement developed over approximately six and a half years and spanning more than 1,400 pages. Agencies participating in the planning included the Oregon Military Department, National Guard Bureau, United States Pacific Fleet, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.
Environmental considerations surrounding military development at Boardman have included wildlife habitat within the installation. Federal defense records have identified habitat for the Washington ground squirrel and established mitigation, monitoring, management practices and conservation measures associated with proposed military improvements at the property.
The range is being constructed within the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility Boardman, an approximately 47,000 acre military property used for weapons and aviation training. The installation’s military history dates to 1941, when the area was established for Army Air Forces training and testing during World War II.
Large portions of the property were transferred to the Navy in 1960. The installation subsequently developed into a military training asset supporting Navy aviation operations and other defense activities in the Pacific Northwest.
The Oregon National Guard and Navy have also invested in other military infrastructure at Boardman. A $13 million Unmanned Aerial Systems Operating Facility was formally dedicated at the installation in 2023, expanding the site’s capability to support unmanned aircraft training and operations.
Financial records associated with the machine gun range reflect several estimates during its lengthy development.
The Oregon Military Department currently identifies the construction project at $12 million. Oregon’s 2025 to 2027 Legislatively Adopted Budget previously listed the Boardman Multi Purpose Machine Gun Range at an estimated $13 million, financed entirely with federal funds.
An earlier Army National Guard military construction planning document identified an estimated project amount of approximately $16.5 million during a previous stage of development. The three figures originated during separate phases of military planning, budgeting and construction preparation. Available records do not establish that the differences represent either a final cost reduction or a construction overrun.
Oregon budget documents had projected completion in 2027. Military officials participating in the September groundbreaking indicated that construction is expected to proceed toward a ribbon cutting within approximately the next year.
Cmdr. Joshua Overn, executive officer of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and the Northwest Training Range Complex, represented the Navy during the ceremony. Representatives from the National Guard Bureau, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Oregon Military Department, local governments and congressional offices also participated.
Construction now moves forward approximately 22 years after the original federal and state military agreement associated with the facility. Once operational, the Boardman range will allow Oregon Army National Guard soldiers to complete required crew served weapons qualifications inside Oregon for the first time on an Army standard facility.
The project will also expand the military infrastructure concentrated at Boardman, where federal and state defense agencies have developed aviation, unmanned aircraft and weapons training capabilities across an installation with more than eight decades of military use.