diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index cf9eaf33..7401541f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -12,21 +12,22 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-BUILD_DIR       := $(shell mkdir -p build && mktemp -d -p build)
-DOCKER_REGISTRY ?= quay.io
-IMAGE_NAME      ?= drydock
-IMAGE_PREFIX    ?= airshipit
-IMAGE_TAG       ?= dev
-HELM            := $(shell realpath $(BUILD_DIR))/helm
-PROXY           ?= http://proxy.foo.com:8000
-NO_PROXY        ?= localhost,127.0.0.1,.svc.cluster.local
-USE_PROXY       ?= false
-PUSH_IMAGE      ?= false
+BUILD_DIR       	:= $(shell mkdir -p build && mktemp -d -p build)
+DOCKER_REGISTRY 	?= quay.io
+IMAGE_NAME      	?= drydock
+IMAGE_PREFIX    	?= airshipit
+IMAGE_TAG       	?= dev
+HELM            	:= $(shell realpath $(BUILD_DIR))/helm
+UBUNTU_BASE_IMAGE	?=
+PROXY           	?= http://proxy.foo.com:8000
+NO_PROXY        	?= localhost,127.0.0.1,.svc.cluster.local
+USE_PROXY       	?= false
+PUSH_IMAGE      	?= false
 # use this variable for image labels added in internal build process
-LABEL           ?= org.airshipit.build=community
-COMMIT          ?= $(shell git rev-parse HEAD)
-IMAGE           ?= ${DOCKER_REGISTRY}/${IMAGE_PREFIX}/${IMAGE_NAME}:${IMAGE_TAG}
-GO_BUILDER      ?= docker.io/golang:1.10-stretch
+LABEL           	?= org.airshipit.build=community
+COMMIT          	?= $(shell git rev-parse HEAD)
+IMAGE           	?= ${DOCKER_REGISTRY}/${IMAGE_PREFIX}/${IMAGE_NAME}:${IMAGE_TAG}
+GO_BUILDER      	?= docker.io/golang:1.10-stretch
 
 export
 
diff --git a/images/drydock/Dockerfile b/images/drydock/Dockerfile
index 7378bb25..50e1eabf 100644
--- a/images/drydock/Dockerfile
+++ b/images/drydock/Dockerfile
@@ -11,7 +11,9 @@
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
-FROM ubuntu:16.04
+
+ARG FROM=ubuntu:16.04
+FROM ${FROM}
 
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.authors='airship-discuss@lists.airshipit.org, irc://#airshipit@freenode'
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.url='https://airshipit.org'
diff --git a/tools/drydock_image_build.sh b/tools/drydock_image_build.sh
index e0e585ad..18d09069 100755
--- a/tools/drydock_image_build.sh
+++ b/tools/drydock_image_build.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -x
 
+UBUNTU_BASE_IMAGE=${UBUNTU_BASE_IMAGE:-""}
 UBUNTU_REPO=${UBUNTU_REPO:-""}
 TRUSTED_UBUNTU_REPO=${TRUSTED_UBUNTU_REPO:-"no"}
 ALLOW_UNATHENTICATED=${ALLOW_UNAUTHENTICATED:-"false"}
@@ -9,6 +10,11 @@ PIP_TRUSTED_HOST=${PIP_TRUSTED_HOST:-""}
 
 ADDL_BUILD_ARGS=""
 
+if [[ ! -z "${UBUNTU_BASE_IMAGE}" ]]
+then
+  ADDL_BUILD_ARGS="${ADDL_BUILD_ARGS} --build-arg FROM=${UBUNTU_BASE_IMAGE}"
+fi
+
 if [[ ! -z "${UBUNTU_REPO}" ]]
 then
   ADDL_BUILD_ARGS="${ADDL_BUILD_ARGS} --build-arg UBUNTU_REPO=${UBUNTU_REPO}"