diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index e7792337da8..82959683124 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ language: go
 
 matrix:
   include:
-    - go: 1.5.3
+    - go: 1.6.0
 
 install:
   - go get github.com/tools/godep
diff --git a/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile b/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
index 333a6e30703..ebdf73c22d0 100644
--- a/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
+++ b/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 # This file creates a standard build environment for building cross
 # platform go binary for the architecture kubernetes cares about.
 
-FROM  golang:1.4.2
+FROM golang:1.6.0
 
 ENV GOARM 6
 ENV KUBE_DYNAMIC_CROSSPLATFORMS \
@@ -27,24 +27,24 @@ ENV KUBE_CROSSPLATFORMS \
   darwin/amd64 darwin/386 \
   windows/amd64 windows/386
 
-RUN cd /usr/src/go/src \
-  && for platform in ${KUBE_CROSSPLATFORMS}; do GOOS=${platform%/*} GOARCH=${platform##*/} ./make.bash --no-clean; done
+# Pre-compile the standard go library when cross-compiling. This is much easier now when we have go1.5+
+RUN for platform in ${KUBE_CROSSPLATFORMS}; do GOOS=${platform%/*} GOARCH=${platform##*/} go install std; done
 
 # Install g++, then download and install protoc for generating protobuf output
 RUN apt-get update \
   && apt-get install -y g++ rsync \
   && apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
-RUN mkdir -p /usr/local/src/protobuf && cd /usr/local/src/protobuf &&\
-    wget -q https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases/download/v3.0.0-beta-2/protobuf-cpp-3.0.0-beta-2.tar.gz &&\
-    tar xzvf protobuf-cpp-3.0.0-beta-2.tar.gz &&\
-    cd protobuf-3.0.0-beta-2 &&\
-    ./configure &&\
-    make install &&\
-    ldconfig &&\
-    cd .. &&\
-    rm -rf protobuf-3.0.0-beta-2 &&\
-    protoc --version
+RUN mkdir -p /usr/local/src/protobuf \
+  && cd /usr/local/src/protobuf \
+  && curl -sSL https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases/download/v3.0.0-beta-2/protobuf-cpp-3.0.0-beta-2.tar.gz | tar -xzv \
+  && cd protobuf-3.0.0-beta-2 \
+  && ./configure \
+  && make install \
+  && ldconfig \
+  && cd .. \
+  && rm -rf protobuf-3.0.0-beta-2 \
+  && protoc --version
 
 # Use dynamic cgo linking for architectures other than amd64 for the server platforms
 # More info here: https://wiki.debian.org/CrossToolchains
@@ -60,13 +60,12 @@ RUN echo "deb http://emdebian.org/tools/debian/ jessie main" > /etc/apt/sources.
 ENV TMPDIR /tmp.k8s
 
 # Get the code coverage tool and godep
-RUN mkdir $TMPDIR && \
-    go get golang.org/x/tools/cmd/cover github.com/tools/godep
+RUN mkdir $TMPDIR \
+  && go get golang.org/x/tools/cmd/cover github.com/tools/godep
 
-# Download and symlink etcd.  We need this for our integration tests.
+# Download and symlink etcd. We need this for our integration tests.
 RUN export ETCD_VERSION=v2.2.1; \
-    mkdir -p /usr/local/src/etcd &&\
-    cd /usr/local/src/etcd &&\
-    curl -fsSLO https://github.com/coreos/etcd/releases/download/$ETCD_VERSION/etcd-$ETCD_VERSION-linux-amd64.tar.gz &&\
-    tar xzf etcd-$ETCD_VERSION-linux-amd64.tar.gz &&\
-    ln -s ../src/etcd/etcd-$ETCD_VERSION-linux-amd64/etcd /usr/local/bin/
+  mkdir -p /usr/local/src/etcd \
+  && cd /usr/local/src/etcd \
+  && curl -fsSL https://github.com/coreos/etcd/releases/download/${ETCD_VERSION}/etcd-${ETCD_VERSION}-linux-amd64.tar.gz | tar -xz \
+  && ln -s ../src/etcd/etcd-${ETCD_VERSION}-linux-amd64/etcd /usr/local/bin/
diff --git a/build/build-image/cross/VERSION b/build/build-image/cross/VERSION
index b7ebb10f40d..dba7764369d 100644
--- a/build/build-image/cross/VERSION
+++ b/build/build-image/cross/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-v1.4.2-1
+v1.6.0-1
diff --git a/build/common.sh b/build/common.sh
index 7f41b25a207..be757325a9c 100755
--- a/build/common.sh
+++ b/build/common.sh
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ readonly KUBE_GCS_DELETE_EXISTING="${KUBE_GCS_DELETE_EXISTING:-n}"
 
 # Constants
 readonly KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_REPO=kube-build
-readonly KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_CROSS_TAG="v1.4.2-1"
+readonly KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_CROSS_TAG="v1.6.0-1"
 # KUBE_BUILD_DATA_CONTAINER_NAME=kube-build-data-<hash>"
 
 # Here we map the output directories across both the local and remote _output
diff --git a/cluster/images/etcd/build-etcd.sh b/cluster/images/etcd/build-etcd.sh
index cdc897751fc..3cd76d6e360 100755
--- a/cluster/images/etcd/build-etcd.sh
+++ b/cluster/images/etcd/build-etcd.sh
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ TAG=$1
 ARCH=$2
 TARGET_DIR=$3
 
-GOLANG_VERSION=${GOLANG_VERSION:-1.5.3}
+GOLANG_VERSION=${GOLANG_VERSION:-1.6.0}
 GOARM=6
 
 # Create the ${TARGET_DIR} directory, if it doesn't exist
diff --git a/cluster/mesos/docker/test/Dockerfile b/cluster/mesos/docker/test/Dockerfile
index b0f65488ee8..c04d53c253c 100644
--- a/cluster/mesos/docker/test/Dockerfile
+++ b/cluster/mesos/docker/test/Dockerfile
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-FROM golang:1.4.3
+FROM golang:1.6.0
 MAINTAINER Mesosphere <support@mesosphere.io>
 
 # docker.io is suppossed to be in backports, but it's not there yet.
diff --git a/docs/devel/development.md b/docs/devel/development.md
index a45b3ab1410..41179f57b42 100644
--- a/docs/devel/development.md
+++ b/docs/devel/development.md
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ Kubernetes is written in the [Go](http://golang.org) programming language. If yo
 
 ### Go versions
 
-Requires Go version 1.4.x or 1.5.x
+Requires Go version 1.4.x, 1.5.x or 1.6.x
 
 ## Git setup
 
diff --git a/shippable.yml b/shippable.yml
index e30902ac0b1..770a81e9714 100644
--- a/shippable.yml
+++ b/shippable.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ language: go
 
 matrix:
   include:
-    - go: 1.5.3
+    - go: 1.6.0
       env:
         - KUBE_TEST_API_VERSIONS=v1,extensions/v1beta1 KUBE_TEST_ETCD_PREFIXES=registry
         - KUBE_JUNIT_REPORT_DIR="${SHIPPABLE_REPO_DIR}/shippable/testresults"