Ground broken for largest project in NAWS China Lake quake recovery Staff report A groundbreaking ceremony was held March 9 at the South Airfield on Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake marking the start of the largest construction project of the $2.3 billion Earthquake Recovery Program, according to a news release from the Officer in Charge of Construction China Lake Public Affairs Office. The South Airfield is a consortium of six projects that will deliver new and improved facilities to develop and test current and future warfighting capabilities, according to the release. “Inside the OICC, we call the South Airfield construction effort the Super Bowl of the earthquake recovery program. The groundbreaking today kicks off the largest single construction contract in the earthquake recovery program season, encompassing a footprint of over 190 acres. That’s roughly 144 football fields,” said OICC China Lake Commanding Officer Capt. Laurie Scott, as quoted in the news release.