The Kansas National Guard Training Center in Salina will host a grand opening ceremony Sept. 15 for two new live-fire ranges that will provide additional firearms training space for Guardsmen and law enforcement agencies. The ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. at the Kansas Training Center Live Fire Range Complex at the Great Plains Joint Training Center southwest of Salina. Keynote speaker for the event will be Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, the adjutant general. Other invited guests include Brig. Gen. Anthony Mohatt, assistant adjutant general Army and commander of the Kansas Army National Guard, representatives from local law enforcement agencies, Kansas Division of Emergency Management, and local civic leaders. The ranges were constructed to modernize the live-fire capabilities of the Kansas Army National Guard and to allow the state to train its Soldiers and meet the Armys requirement that every Soldier assigned a M16 or M4 conduct semi-annual or annual qualification with their rifle, said Lt. Col. Charles Harriman, commander of the Kansas Training Center. The range tests a Soldiers ability to identify, engage, and defeat stationary infantry targets in daylight, nighttime, and inclement weather conditions. Harriman said approximately $6.6 million of federal military construction money was invested in the new ranges, which took 10 months to complete. The new ranges include a Combat Pistol Qualification Course capable of supporting pistol training of various calibers and an M16/M4 Modified Record Fire range and accompanying rifle zero range. Harriman said the rifle range augments a previously existing range by adding two target rows and four firing lanes. The combat pistol qualification course replaces an existing range. The M16/M4 rifle zero range can accommodate 32 shooters at one time. The M16/M4 Modified Record Fire range can accommodate 16 shooters at one time, explained Harriman. The Combat Pistol Qualification Course can accommodate 15 shooters at one time. The Modified Record Fire range allows Soldiers to engage targets at varying distances compared to the previously existing range. The range also reduces land and maintenance requirements and increases training efficiencies." Harriman said the pistol course will allow military police and other Soldiers assigned pistols to engage targets while advancing down the course and from behind obstacles. This more realistically simulates the conditions in which a Soldier will have to engage a target with a pistol, said Harriman.