Naval Air Station Lemoore
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Naval Air Station Lemoore Reeves Field |
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IATA: NLC – ICAO: KNLC - FAA: NLC – WMO: 74702 |
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Summary | |||||||||||||||
Airport type | Naval Air Station | ||||||||||||||
Operator | United States Navy | ||||||||||||||
Location | Kings / Fresno counties, near Lemoore, California | ||||||||||||||
Built | 1961 | ||||||||||||||
In use | Active | ||||||||||||||
Commander | Captain Monty G. Ashliman Jr. | ||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 232 ft / 71 m | ||||||||||||||
Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | ||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||
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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. Lemoore Station, California, a census-designated place, is located inside the base's borders.[1]
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).[2]
Contents
History
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. NAS Lemoore is the newest and largest Master Jet Base in 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 & C, the remainder of the air operations area is located directly 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 action 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 Naval Air Station Lemoore over the period 2001-2004. Additional military staffing was required at Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department, Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific, and the 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, who was the first Naval officer in Lemoore.[3][4]
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 Hornet Strike Fighter. In November, 1999, NAS Lemoore received its first F/A-18 E/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 Strike Fighters. Currently, there are a total of 175 Hornets and Super Hornets home-based at NAS Lemoore operating from one Fleet Replacement [training] Squadron and fifteen Fleet [operational] Squadrons.
Tenant units
Carrier wings
Strike Fighter Wing Pacific
- Carrier Air Wing 2 (CVW-2), assigned to: USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76)
- Carrier Air Wing 5 (CVW-5), forward deployed to NAF Atsugi, Japan; assigned to: USS George Washington (CVN-73)
- Carrier Air Wing 9 (CVW-9), assigned to: USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74)
- Carrier Air Wing 11 (CVW-11), assigned to: USS Nimitz (CVN-68)
- Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17, assigned to USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
Squadrons
F/A-18A+/B/C/D Hornets | F/A-18E/F Super Hornets |
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Tenant activities
- Strike Fighter Wing Pacific
- Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific
- Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department
- Fleet Readiness Center West Sea Operational Detachment
- Fleet Logistics Center San Diego, Det Lemoore
- Fleet Aviation Specialized Operational Training Group, Pacific Fleet
- Marine Aviation Training Support Group
- Naval Air Technical Services Facility Detachment
- Naval Aviation Engineering Service Unit
- Naval Air Maintenance Training Group
- Naval Hospital
- Naval Branch Dental Clinic
- Naval Training Systems Center
- Trainer Systems Support Activity
- Navy Operational Support Center (formerly Naval Air Reserve Center)
- Fleet Readiness Center West
- Naval Criminal Investigative Service NCISRA
- Naval Legal Service Office, Southwest Branch Office
- Aviation Survival Training Center
- NATEC, Naval Air Technical Data and Engineering Service Command
- NAFC, Naval Aviation Forecast Component
Educational institutes
- Akers Elementary School (Preschool-8th)
- Neutra Elementary School (K-5)
- Military College
See also
References
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- FAA Airport Master Record for NLC (Form 5010 PDF)
External links
- DoD Lodging Worldwide
- http://www.cnic.navy.mil/Lemoore/index.htm (official site)
- Resources for this U.S. military airport:
- FAA airport information for NLC
- AirNav airport information for KNLC
- ASN accident history for NLC
- NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
- SkyVector aeronautical chart for KNLC
- FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective November 28, 2024
- Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in California
- Airports in California
- Buildings and structures in Fresno County, California
- Buildings and structures in Kings County, California
- Central Valley (California)
- Military facilities in California
- United States Naval Air Stations
- United States Navy bases
- USAAF Fourth Air Force Replacement Training Stations