Naval Air Station Lemoore

Last updated
Naval Air Station Lemoore
Reeves Field
Near Lemoore, California in the United States
F-35Cs of VFA-101 in flight over NAS Lemoore with FA-18EFs of VFA-122 in April 2015.JPG
Two US Navy F-35C Lightning II from VFA-101 fly in formation over NAS Lemoore with F/A-18E/F Super Hornets of VFA-122 during 2015.
NAS Lemoore Emblem.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
NAS Lemoore
Location in the United States
Coordinates 36°19′59″N119°57′07″W / 36.33306°N 119.95194°W / 36.33306; -119.95194
Type Naval Air Station (Master jet base)
Site information
Owner Department of Defense
Operator US Navy
Controlled by Navy Region Southwest
ConditionOperational
Website Official website
Site history
Built1961 (1961)
In use1961 – present
Garrison information
Current
commander
Captain Douglas M. Peterson
GarrisonStrike Fighter Wing Pacific
Airfield information
Identifiers IATA: NLC, ICAO: KNLC, FAA LID: NLC, WMO: 747020
Elevation65.2 meters (214 ft) AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
14L/32R4,115.4 meters (13,502 ft)  Concrete
14R/32L4,115.1 meters (13,501 ft) Concrete
Source: Federal Aviation Administration [1]

Naval Air Station Lemoore or NAS Lemoore( IATA : NLC, ICAO : KNLC, FAA LID : NLC) is a United States Navy base, located in Kings County and Fresno County, California, United States. Lemoore Station, a census-designated place, is located inside the base's borders. [2]

Contents

NAS Lemoore is the Navy's newest and largest master jet base. Strike Fighter Wing Pacific, along with its associated squadrons, is home ported there.

NAS Lemoore also hosts four carrier air wings: Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2), Carrier Air Wing Nine (CVW-9), Carrier Air Wing Eleven (CVW-11), and Carrier Air Wing Seventeen (CVW-17). [3]

History

Aerial view of NAS Lemoore in the early 1960s NAS Lemoore NAN7-63.jpg
Aerial view of NAS Lemoore in the early 1960s

Commissioned in 1961, NAS Lemoore, as seen from an aircraft flying above, looks significant and stands out from the farmlands of Central California, due to its large construction. It is the newest and largest master jet base of the U.S. Navy. It has two offset parallel runways 4,600 feet (1,400 m) apart. Aircraft parking and maintenance hangars are aligned between the 13,500-foot (4,100 m) runways. Separated from the hangars by underpasses beneath taxiways A and C, the remainder of the air operations area is located directly to the southeast.

In July 1998, NAS Lemoore was selected as the West Coast site for the Navy's newest strike-fighter aircraft, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. This decision brought approximately 92 additional aircraft, 1,850 additional active duty personnel and 3,000 family members to NAS Lemoore, and several associated facility additions or improvements.

The Navy also brought four new fleet squadrons to NAS Lemoore from 2001 to 2004. Additional military staffing was required at the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department, Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific, and Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit Lemoore (CNATTU Lemoore) to support this effort. Originally, the officer in charge of construction for building the base was Commander Dennis K. Culp CEC/USN, the first Naval officer in Lemoore. [4] [5]

On 31 March 2016, two civilians were killed when the Jeep Grand Cherokee they were driving in collided with a parked F/A-18 jet. [6] They were being pursued by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and managed to enter the base without hindrance by base security. A CHP helicopter was monitoring the chase from above and captured the event in a FLIR video; the base tower staff can be heard asking if the vehicle was already in the base. A CHP dispatcher can be heard confirming so and that CHP were unable to contact base security for assistance. [7]

Current operations

With the transfer of NAS Miramar to the United States Marine Corps, NAS Lemoore now hosts the Navy's entire west coast fighter/attack capability. NAS Lemoore was built "from the ground up" as a Master Jet Base, and has several operational advantages, and relatively few constraints, as a result.

Strike Fighter Wing Pacific with its supporting facilities is home ported here. The primary aircraft based at NAS Lemoore is the F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter. In November, 1999, NAS Lemoore received its first F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, which replaced the F-14 Tomcat in fleet service as an air-superiority fighter and has assumed, in a different configuration, the role of older F/A-18 Hornet fighters. Currently, there are a total of 175 Hornets and Super Hornets home-based at NAS Lemoore operating from one Fleet Replacement Squadron and sixteen Fleet [operational] Squadrons. In 2017, the F-35C Lightning II was received onboard NAS Lemoore, establishing the first F-35 Pacific training squadron.

Lemoore is home to aircraft assigned to the following Carrier Air Wings.

Based flying units

Flying units based at NAS Lemoore. [8]

United States Navy

Commander, Naval Air Forces, Pacific

Tenant squadrons

InsigniaSquadronCodeCallsign/NicknameAssigned AircraftOperational AssignmentAdministrative Assignment
VFA-2 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 2 VFA-2Bounty Hunters F/A-18F Super Hornet Carrier Air Wing Two Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-14 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 14 VFA-14Tophatters F/A-18E Super Hornet Carrier Air Wing Nine Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-22 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 22 VFA-22Fighting Redcocks F/A-18F Super Hornet Carrier Air Wing Seventeen Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-25 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 25 VFA-25Fist of the Fleet F/A-18E Super Hornet Carrier Air Wing Eleven Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-41 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 41 VFA-41Black Aces F/A-18F Super Hornet Carrier Air Wing Nine Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-86 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 86 VFA-86Sidewinders F-35C Lightning II N/A Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-94 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 94 VFA-94Mighty Shrikes F/A-18E Super Hornet Carrier Air Wing Seventeen Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-97 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 97 VFA-97Warhawks F-35C Lightning II Carrier Air Wing Two Commander, Joint Strike Fighter Wing (COMJSFWING)
VFA-113 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 113 VFA-113Stingers F/A-18E Super Hornet Carrier Air Wing Two Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-122 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 122 VFA-122Flying Eagles F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS)Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-125 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 125 VFA-125Rough Raiders F-35C Lightning II Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS)Commander, Joint Strike Fighter Wing (COMJSFWING)
VFA-136 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 136 VFA-136Knighthawks F/A-18E Super Hornet Carrier Air Wing One Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-137 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 137 VFA-137Kestrels F/A-18E Super Hornet Carrier Air Wing Seventeen Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-146 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 146 VFA-146Blue Diamonds F/A-18E Super Hornet Carrier Air Wing Seventeen Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-147 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 147 VFA-147Argonauts F-35C Lightning II Commander, Joint Strike Fighter Wing (COMJSFWING)Commander, Joint Strike Fighter Wing (COMJSFWING)
VFA-151 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 151 VFA-151Vigilantes F/A-18E Super Hornet Carrier Air Wing Nine Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-154 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 154 VFA-154Black Knights F/A-18F Super Hornet Carrier Air Wing Eleven Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
VFA-192 Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Squadron 192 VFA-192World Famous Golden Dragons F/A-18E Super Hornet Carrier Air Wing Two Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
NASL SAR Emblem.svg
Naval Air Station Lemoore Search and RescueNASL SAR MH-60S Seahawk "Knighthawk" Naval Air Station Lemoore (NASL)
SFWSPAC Emblem.svg
Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific SFWSPAC F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC)
FRCW Emblem.svg
Fleet Readiness Center West FRCWNaval Air Station Lemoore (NASL)Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers (COMFRC)

Other tenant activities

FAA airport diagram NLC - FAA airport diagram.gif
FAA airport diagram

Educational institutes

See also

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References

  1. FAA Airport Form 5010 for NLC PDF
  2. "Naval Air Station Lemoore". www.cnic.navy.mil.
  3. "Home". www.csfwp.navy.mil.
  4. "History". www.csfwp.navy.mil.
  5. "NAS Lemoore". www.militarybases.us.
  6. Peres, Jessica (2016-03-31). "CHP chase ends in fatal crash into a F/A-18 at NAS Lemoore". ABC30 Fresno. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  7. Real World Police (2018-10-04), Pursuit onto NAS Lemoore Ends When Jeep Crashes into F-18 Super Hornet, archived from the original on 2021-12-12, retrieved 2018-10-08
  8. Kaminski, Tom (2020). "Air Power Review". US Navy and Marine Corps Air Power Review Yearbook 2020. Key Publishing. pp. 66–81.

Sources