For years, Camp Shelby mechanics repaired tanks and other heavy combat vehicles outdoors because their maintenance shop was designed for smaller wheeled vehicles. A new $32 million expansion is changing, allowing technicians to service larger military equipment indoors while speeding repairs and improving readiness.
The Maneuver Area Training Equipment Site, or MATES, expansion replaces an aging maintenance shop that could no longer accommodate the Army’s modern equipment. The project is designed to improve working conditions for mechanics, reduce repair times, and keep National Guard vehicles mission-ready for training and deployment.
The expansion includes two 24,000-square-foot maintenance buildings with a combined 24 maintenance bays and a 45-foot-high crane system capable of servicing larger tracked vehicles. Building A is now operational, while Building B is expected to be completed this fall.
For MATES Superintendent Capt. Jason Pritchard, the expansion was necessary as military equipment has grown larger and more complex.
“The building was needed because the equipment is getting taller, bigger, heavier, and our current facility was designed like a wheel shop,” Pritchard said.
The new maintenance complex also provides technicians with a safer and more efficient workspace.
“Previously, we had the mechanics working outside on this workshop equipment because our previous facility wouldn’t accommodate it,” Pritchard said. “Now that the mechanics can work inside, they’re much more efficient, and maintenance is more streamlined.”
The larger maintenance bays and overhead crane allow mechanics to service vehicles such as the M1 Abrams tank, M88 recovery vehicle and M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer in a single workspace rather than spreading repairs across multiple bays.
MATES Support Operations Supervisor Cody Brown said that change allows technicians to move equipment through the shop more efficiently.
“Now we can do each individual vehicle in one bay,” Brown said. “That speeds up the process. You’re able to bring in more equipment, and you’re able to move that equipment through the shop a lot faster.”
Brown said quicker repairs mean soldiers spend less time waiting on equipment and more time training.
“The faster we can do that, the more they can train, the more they can stay certified and ready to fight,” Brown said.
According to Pritchard, MATES employs 166 federal dual-status technicians with an annual payroll of approximately $12 million.
Brown said the benefits extend beyond Camp Shelby employees. The installation attracts military units from across the United States and allied partner nations that use Camp Shelby’s training facilities, bringing additional economic activity to Mississippi.
“Those foreign units bring money into Mississippi,” Brown said. “We provide that opportunity here. It’s a huge asset for the state, having MATES at Camp Shelby connected to the training grounds.”
Pritchard said the investment also helps ensure taxpayer dollars are spent maintaining equipment that soldiers rely on during training.
“We try to be good custodians of taxpayer dollars, put them to good use, and I think this facility really does that,” Pritchard said. “When soldiers come here to train, they have well-prepared equipment for gunneries and maneuvers.”
Camp Shelby is also planning additional modernization projects. Pritchard said one future military construction priority is a dedicated equipment training facility where instructors could train soldiers and mechanics to maintain newly fielded equipment.
“A new equipment training site would allow us to hand the keys over to the instructors when new equipment is fielded so they could teach maintenance on that equipment,” Pritchard said.
