This conference is the latest in the series on Ground Based and Airborne Telescopes, where progress in the field continues at an exciting pace. The next generation of extremely large telescopes is underway: the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) are all involved in site preparation and placing major subsystem contracts. The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), and the Magdalena Ridge Optical Interferometer (MROI) are all well along in construction, with other projects such as the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO), CCAT Prime, Mauna Kea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE), Next-Generation VLA, and the European Solar Telescope (EST) proceeding along the development, prototyping, and design pipeline. We also welcome colleagues undertaking astronomy projects in locales from Central America to the Middle East, Africa to East Asia. Meanwhile scientists and engineers are conceptualizing facilities which will provide extraordinary research opportunities for the next generation of astronomers. The Five-Hundred meter Aperture Telescope (FAST) and Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) are in commissioning and early science, with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) continuing to expand their scientific capabilities and output. Major maintenance and retrofit projects are being undertaken from Mauna Kea to Roque de los Muchachos to the Andes, with facilities such as Hobby-Eberly Telescope, Mayall, Blanco, and Gemini making major infrastructure investments to support research initiatives for topics such as Dark Energy and Adaptive Optics.

Papers are solicited on the planning, design, construction, commissioning and performance of existing and future ground-based and airborne telescopes and arrays observing in the optical, infrared, submillimeter, millimeter and radio wavelength bands. Specific topics include: project reviews concepts for future telescopes and pathfinder projects opto-mechanical system and component design, prototyping, and implementation telescope structures observatory enclosures observatory facilities and physical infrastructure, including safety systems site characterization, testing and development designs or new technologies for better and/or more affordable telescopes enabling technologies mass production design for reliability design trade studies metrology and alignment major maintenance and facility upgrades, including modifications for remote operations, AO, or new research initiatives design for extreme environments industrial perspectives assembly, integration and verification, lessons learned during commissioning transition from commissioning to operations