The Army Corps of Engineers began building 15 miles of border fence along the Barry M. Goldwater Training Range in Yuma, Ariz., yesterday, the Army’s civilian installations boss announced Thursday.

The fence, which will cost $50 million, will replace existing easily penetrable mesh fencing on the southern border with Mexico, where crossings have forced some shutdowns of pilot and ground crew training.

“When incursions occur and illegal border crossers get into that area, the ranges must close,” Jordan Gillis, the assistant Army secretary for energy and installations, told reporters. “That delays the training exercises. It diverts our time and our resources and ultimately impacts readiness.”

Gillis could not provide the number of incursions that have shut down the range over the past

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