Military Shelters and Storage Structures Projects

Bagram Airfield base in Afghanistan

Rubb Building Systems and Cocoon, Inc. recently collaborated in the design, delivery and installation of a fixed-base maintenance hangar for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Based at the Bagram Airfield base in Afghanistan, the hangar is designed to accommodate a C-130 aircraft and has a clear span width of 174' with a 153' wide by 46' high six-bladed sliding door system.

The hangar will fulfill critical maintenance activities not currently available in Afghanistan and is designed to meet specific aircraft clearance envelope requirements and environmental and other load conditions including: support for suspended equipment, full internal fire protection systems, fuels maintenance systems and supporting utilities. The structure is engineered for full compliance with U.S. building code requirements for full wind, snow and seismic loads. As with all Rubb products, the hangar offers the flexibility to be relocated in standard ISO containers should future needs warrant.

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RAF Lossiemouth

Rubb Buildings – Helping The Royal Air Force Keep Fit!

In the twenty first century modern military training centers are not all about physical education and marching drill. RAF Lossiemouth was a prime example, requiring an indoor sports/training facility which could provide a physical training area for combat fitness tests and circuit training but with the ability to create an area for general fitness, leisure sports and a gymnasium. Rubb Buildings supplied the answer -- with an impressive track record in the construction of multi-sports arenas, we were the obvious choice to design a cost effective, practical solution.

With a well-engineered galvanized steel frame and the use of a high strength PVC-coated polyester fabric cover, Rubb designed and built a 20m (65.6’) x 40m (131.2’) NV structure linked to the existing buildings. One key additional benefit of the Rubb system is efficient utilization of space. The truss frame system allows for a clear span and high vertical walls to suit many sporting activities. The 3m -leg (9.84 ’) height and white semi-translucent roof fabric creates a lighter, brighter, and more appealing environment than that pro vided by other structures. Energy costs are lower because the need for artificial lighting is reduced in daytime hours. In addition, the heat reflectivity of the white roof surface helps keep the buil ding cooler.

The 40m (131.2’) length of the building and the use of demountable boards enabled the space to be quickly divided and separated off allow the facility to run a number of different activities s imultaneously. A large area can be created for a variety of sports including 5 a-side foot-ball, indoor hockey, volleyball, badminton, and mini tennis, with the smaller section housing the running m achines and gen-eral exercise equipment.

Rubb Sports buildings can be effectively insulated, heated or air-conditioned to provide a perfect sports environment.

Military School of Aviation

The recent completion of a multi-use sports hall for the Military School of Aviation in the UK tested Rubb Buildings' claim of versatility of use from the start. As with many Rubb buildings, the sports hall can be easily converted for a variety of functions. With the Unit refurbishing the catering and dinning facilities, the sports hall was immediately called into action to act as a temporary dining area while construction work was completed.

When the Military Aviation School decided to invest in a new multi-sports hall they looked at all the options. The unit initially considered purchasing a bubble gym; however, the constant running costs and risk of damage and high maintenance problems caused them to reconsider the project. Rubb buildings provided the answer with most cost effective, practical solution.

Major Steve Wood of the Military Aviation Unit commented "We knew that Rubb buildings were the world leaders in temporary shelters, being on a military aviation unit we were aware of the work they had produced in the engineering and aviation fields".

The facility, a BVR 18m (59.04') x 35m (114.8 ') x with side walls of 6m (19.7 ') was designed and built for a variety of sports, from combat fitness tests, indoor assault courses and circuit training. The addition of interior walls with Gerflor Sport M sports flooring provided a sports hall perfect for 5 aside football, indoor hockey and mini tennis; and with the addition of indoor nets, cricket is available all year round.

Major Wood said, "Rubb was an excellent company to work with from the planning and construction, Rubb kept to their promised schedule on time and costs, with the construction taking only six weeks from start to finish".

Rubb Buildings once again proved that the transient use of the construction proves the versatility of the structure, providing a multi-sports hall in all senses of the word.

The Rubb organization, with production facilities in Great Britain, Norway and the United States is recognized as a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of relocatable structures and is quality certified to ISO9001: 2000.

Dehumidified military storage building for RMB Chivenor (Royal Marinesbase at Chivenor)

The building services were fully interlocked to provide sequential operation. That is to say when the large doors open, ventilation goes on (and dehumidification turns off). This process is automatic. When doors close, the vent fans run for a few minutes (time depends onfume detection level in the building) and dehumidifiers come on.

The purpose of the building is to store military hardware under dehumidified conditions. The Marines /Army are extremely happy with the building as it give much better results than what they have previously used (lined traditional buildings).

They can retain relative humidity at 45% with great ease. The 'pull down time' (to achieve 45% RH from ambient humidity) is about 2 hours (for a similar sized traditional building the Marines were expecting 10 hours).

Rapid Deployment Shelters for the British Army

After supplying the British Army with 85 personnel shelters to meet the severe winter weather conditions of Bosnia, Rubb has further developed its product range to meet new military requirements.

In-line with the establishment of Britain's new Rapid Deployment Force, Rubb has created a range of RDS - Rapid Deployment Shelters. The original product was manufactured to meet United Nations requirements for Sierra Leone when a total of 115 20'x20' (6m x 6m) shelters were needed within an 8 week period.

For the British Army there are four main benefits to the RDS. The shelters pack to a small volume and are therefore easy to transport (up to 29 individual shelters can be stored in one 40' (12m) container). Each shelter can be fully erected within 2 hours by a team of four with no requirement for heavy lifting equipment.

Once erected, the shelters can be interlinked to form larger facilities and come complete with ground sheets, flooring and easy to install lighting systems. In addition, the shelters can be climatically controlled to meet a variety of worldwide conditions.

The RDS is a direct result of Rubb's policy of continuous research and development to help meet the changing requirements of battlefield infrastructure. The RDS is available in both lightweight and heavyweight versions to meet varying weather conditions.

Rubb Protects The Space Shuttle

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded a contract, through a general contractor, for a Rubb structure to provide a climate controlled environment for loading materials into the cargo bay of the space shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Rubb custom designed an 86' (26.2m) wide by 63' (19.2m) long NV-range building with 19.7' (6m) sidewalls to allow the shuttle to be rolled into the Rubb structure during loading and maintenance operations. This structure is located inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Space Center.

The VAB is a 400' high structure in the shuttle flight preparation area where the new Rubb structure will not only provide a climate controlled environment for loading operations, but will also protect the shuttle from any falling debris.

Rubb had to meet stringent NASA engineering and quality standards in accomplishing this project. The NASA engineering staff applied the same rigorous oversight to this project as is applied to all aspects of this premier American space program.

The Rubb organization, with production facilities in the United States, Great Britain, and Norway, is recognized as a world leader in the design, development, and manufacture of relocatable structures.

Environment Stabilization System For Aircraft Storage

Improved superpower relationships have created a new demand for high quality dehumidified aviation and military equipment storage facilities. As hardware is withdrawn from advanced positions to home bases, new storage concepts are being developed to preserve the equipment and eliminate moisture induced corrosion. An example of the latest storage technology is the Environment Stabilization System (ESS) created by Logis-Tech, Inc. for the US Navy in Florida. The Logis-Tech ESS system integrates and electronically links the storage environment, dehumidifiers, air distribution ducting and data acquisition and control systems.

In the case of the U.S. Navy project, the storage environment is a 43m clear-span structure, 76m in length with 5m sidewalls (140 x 250 x 16.4 ft.) which was prefabricated and erected by Rubb Building Systems. It has the capacity to store twenty Grumman EA-6B aircraft in folded wing configuration. The facility provides cost effective, energy efficient, long-term, low humidity storage. By storing aircraft in these conditions they are maintained in a high state of readiness for quick recommissioning should the need arise.

The Rubb structure consists of a continuous, PVC coated polyester fabric membrane which is tensioned over a hot-dipped galvanized steel tubular frame. The exterior membrane and all door openings are specially sealed to minimize air infiltration into the structure. Internally, the structure is divided into two storage cells by a liner. The liner is constructed of flame retardant, reinforced polyethylene material. Each cell is serviced by one dehumidifier and air ducting. The internal division ensures optimum performance of dehumidifiers and provides a secondary barrier against moisture intrusion whenever the 24m (80') wide multi-leaf sliding main doors are opened.

The dehumidifiers' capacity is based upon the air change requirement needed to maintain a relative humidity within the structure of between 30% and 40%. Each dehumidifier is capable of processing 64 cubic meters of air per minute (2250 cu. ft.)

The heart of the ESS concept is the data acquisition and control system which runs on unique software developed by Logis-Tech. Sensors and monitors control the operation of the dehumidifiers, sense combustible fumes, detect intrusions and also record temperatures and relative humidity. The system can act as a remotely accessed control station that can be monitored by modem from any location in the world.

Rubb has supplied the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and other military agencies with a number of large relocatable storage buildings. Rubb structures were seen by Logis-Tech as the ideal envelope for their Environment Stabilization System. On this project Rubb provided a turn-key package that included the foundation, structure, aircraft door manufacture and installation, plus external housings for the dehumidification equipment.

John Senter, Logis-Tech's Program Manager, said of the project, "As Federal Agencies become more aware of the increasingly important role environment stabilization has in enhancing material readiness and realizing significant maintenance cost avoidance, I am confident we will be called upon to repeat the success of our mutual effort in Florida with Rubb's professional team."

Inquire now to see learn Rubb military shelters can meet your military storage requirements.