U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Europe District
This work ranges from projects geared toward enabling operational readiness like administrative facilities, training range improvements, forward operating sites, runways and prepositioned stock sites to projects that deliver on U.S. Army and Department of Defense quality of life promises like housing, Department of Defense Education Activity schools, and more.
[1] Since the 1950’s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had a Mediterranean Division that managed design and construction of projects in Southern Europe, Turkey, Africa and the Middle East.
The embargo was lifted in 1978 and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reopened its field site in Turkey in Ankara in 1979 ahead of the signing of a new Defense and Economic Cooperation Agreement between the two nations in 1980.
[6] Over the years, Europe District’s mission adapted to the changing European environment, with a focus on operations and maintenance work at existing building and installations growing into the 1990’s.
Europe District has continued to support various missions and initiatives over the years in line with U.S. national security interests and has since grown again over time.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has supported U.S. national interests in Africa since the 1950s, with various District and Division offices managing that mission over the decades.
The work was part of a larger foreign military sale to Nigeria, which also included the delivery of 12 A-29 Super Tucano aircraft, precision munitions, and world-class training.
[7] While Europe District had managed previous humanitarian construction missions in the Caucasus region in support of U.S. European Command initiatives, the mission grew in the late 2000’s with a growing number of projects funded through the Office of Defense Cooperation in the U.S. Embassy in Georgia meant to increase Georgia’s capacity for border control operations.
This mission continued into the 2010’s and an office was established co-located with the U.S. Embassy that still manages a wide range of projects in the Caucasus region.
Forces, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Allies, and regional partners of the U.S., to enable a faster response to any aggression within the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) Area of Responsibility (AOR) and transnational threats by regional adversaries to the sovereign territory of NATO Allies.”[8] In the 2020’s, Europe District continues to support U.S. national interest in Europe and Africa, with a current workforce of roughly 500 personnel in 2024 and projects in more than 40 countries.
Europe District supports EUCOM and AFRICOM theater security plans and all three pillars of U.S. foreign policy, including defense, diplomacy and development.
The International Engineering Center (IEC) provides design and construction contracting services to U.S. government agencies in Europe and Africa for projects that are outside the above categories.
Work ranges from traditional military engineering construction of facilities, roads and bridges, to renovating orphanages and building customs and border crossing stations.
Primary end users are the Georgia Border Guard and the Georgia Customs Department • International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) Program – The IEC continues to assist INL with design and renovation of facilities for the Department of State such as police academies, forensics laboratories and pistol ranges • Civil-military operations – The IEC provides contracting services to the EUCOM and AFRICOM civil military operations programs to design and construct basic humanitarian projects, including improving potable water, renovating schools, orphanages, and hospitals, and building wells • Counter-Narcotics and Terrorism (CNT) Program – The district is currently working on several CNT projects in Europe worth about $4.1 million • Operation Enduring Freedom - Trans Sahara (OEF-TS) – OEF-TS is the U.S. military component of the Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Initiative, a U.S. government program designed to help develop the internal security forces necessary to control borders and combat terrorism and other illegal activity.
AFRICOM executes OEF-TS through a series of military-to-military engagements and exercises designed to strengthen the ability of regional governments to police the large expanses of remote terrain in the trans-Sahara.
