{"id":76416,"date":"2025-02-25T16:20:47","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T16:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/02\/25\/the-armys-permafrost-test-bed-in-alaska-set-for-significant-upgrade\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:17:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:17:50","slug":"the-armys-permafrost-test-bed-in-alaska-set-for-significant-upgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2025\/02\/25\/the-armys-permafrost-test-bed-in-alaska-set-for-significant-upgrade\/","title":{"rendered":"The Army\u2019s permafrost test bed in Alaska set for significant upgrade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As warming conditions create new operating pathways in the Arctic<\/a> and military training increasingly emphasizes proficiency in the cold, the Army<\/a> Corps of Engineers\u2019 Engineer Research and Development Center is preparing to open a state-of-the-art center supporting research at its permafrost tunnel research facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new $11.4 million operations center, next to the tunnel in Fox, Alaska, is set for completion this year and formal opening in early 2026, Gary Larsen, the facility\u2019s operations manager, told Military Times in an interview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tunnel itself \u2014 about a third of a mile long and 14 feet wide and high, with Ice Age-era animal bones jutting out from the walls \u2014 is one of the Corps\u2019 little-known marvels, dating back to the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tunnel\u2019s permafrost, defined as any ground or soil that remains frozen for at least two years straight, is used by scientists to study questions ranging from how thawing microbes trapped in layers of ice and earth might affect soldiers\u2019 health, to how to build sound military structures in and on the material. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An ancient steppe bison horn protrudes from an underground wall within the Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility. (Eve Baker\/Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And these are not abstract questions \u2014 an F-35A hangar project at Eielson Air Force Base<\/a>, Alaska, that concluded last year required engineers to excavate warm permafrost while maintaining the integrity of the hangar\u2019s foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality of increased permafrost thaw in the north has forced military units to confront questions about the health impacts of microbes that may be tens of thousands of years old, but still living when they thaw at the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe question has come up from the command here at the 11th Airborne [Division out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska]: \u2018What are we potentially exposing our soldiers to, anyway?\u2019\u201d Larsen said. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole, much broader kind of work that we do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new operations facility, Larsen said, will cover about 4,000 square feet and include a visitor center with indoor bathrooms, a luxury not currently available to staff and scientists; a lab facility for processing samples on-site, rather than at the existing lab facility in Fort Wayne, more than 10 miles away; and a \u201cwarm room\u201d for storing equipment, batteries and vehicles away from the punishing cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re spectacularly blessed that we actually get a permanent building out there now,\u201d Larsen said. \u201cNow, [scientists] can actually process their samples out there; they can store them. They can do some rudimentary lab analyses out there at the new building. … It\u2019s all really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Pathways within the Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility are lit with artificial lighting and marked by signage to guide researchers and other visitors. (Eve Baker\/Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The tunnel, which began excavation in 1963, started as a Cold War bunker project, eventually abandoned, to protect personnel and weapons systems from attack, Larsen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis permafrost \u2026 it\u2019s not brittle. It deals well with vibration,\u201d he said. \u201cThe idea is … you put something in there, and they bomb the hillside. It doesn\u2019t collapse, and there\u2019s not a lot of vibrations in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the bunker project eventually ran out of money and was halted before military equipment was ever stored there, the tunnel has proved its resilience in the decades since, surviving multiple earthquakes, Larsen said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During construction of the new operations facility last summer, he said, heavy equipment operations that rocked the cabin currently serving as a makeshift visitor center couldn\u2019t even be felt inside the tunnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of funny that this new construction project actually helped validate the original purpose for digging the tunnel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As military interest in extreme-cold combat operations increases in light of competition for supremacy in the Arctic and focus turns toward frigid-weather adversaries, such as Russia and North Korea<\/a>, Larsen said research and experimentation in the tunnel and at the surface of the permafrost has for the most part remained steady. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has, however, noticed an increase in visits from VIPs, public officials and military units seeking to understand the realities of cold-weather military competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Preserved vegetation from approximately 40,000 years ago hangs from the ceiling within the Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility. (Eve Baker\/Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The new visitor center, Larsen said, will help advance the facility\u2019s educational mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alaska-based military units, he said, are \u201cactually now doing leadership development programs in the tunnel, learning about permafrost and what it is and how that impacts their operations. It\u2019s a basic thing that we would be teaching them, but it\u2019s become increasingly important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tunnel also presents a unique opportunity for special operations units and other military elements to drill on subterranean operations, another point of increasing focus for the Defense Department as leaders anticipate fighting more in urban environments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the units can\u2019t execute live fire in the tunnels, Larsen said, they can use it as a familiarization range for personnel and accompanying machines and equipment. The tunnel played a role, he said, in Arctic Edge 24, a joint homeland defense exercise led by U.S. Northern Command last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt helps the Special Forces guys learn how to operate in these environments that they normally wouldn\u2019t get a chance to operate in,\u201d Larsen said. \u201cIt\u2019s cold in there. It\u2019s dusty in there. When we turn the lights off, it\u2019s dark in there. It\u2019s kind of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, the tunnel has had only one visit from a sitting president \u2014 Jimmy Carter in 1981 \u2014 but lawmakers often request to visit while they\u2019re in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSitting in D.C., it\u2019s kind of hard to understand exactly what permafrost is and how that impacts life up here, and more importantly, in this context, operations for the military,\u201d Larsen said. \u201cJust being here at the tunnel for an hour, in the operations facility, and then in the tunnel, all of a sudden you see the light go on. And it helps them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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