Naval Air Station Lemoore

Naval Air Station Lemoore Reeves Field
IATA: NLC – ICAO: KNLC - FAA: NLC
Summary
Airport type		Naval Air Station
Operator		United States Navy
Location		Kings / Fresno counties, near Lemoore, California
Built		1961
In use		Active
Commander		Captain James R. Knapp
Elevation AMSL		234 ft / 71.3 m
Coordinates		36°19′59″N 119°57′07″W / 36.33306°N 119.95194°W / 36.33306; -119.95194
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
14L/32R	13,502	4,115	Concrete
	13,502	4,115	Concrete

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.

NAS Lemoore is the Navy's 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 Fourteen (CVW-14).

History

Commissioned in 1961, NAS Lemoore is the newest air station 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 brings 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 will be required at Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department, Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific, and Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit Lemoore (CNATTU Lemoore) to support this effort.

Current operations

Aerial view of NAS Lemoore in the early 1960s

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.

The Pacific Strike Fighter Wing with its supporting facilities are 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 fourteen Fleet [operational] Squadrons.

Tenant Units

Carrier Wings

Pacific Strike Fighter Wing

• Carrier Air Wing 2 (CVW-2), assigned to: USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)
• 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 14 (CVW-14), assigned to: USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76)

Squadrons

F/A-18A+/B/C/D Hornets

F/A-18E/F Super Hornets

VFA-25 Fist of the Fleet (C) VFA-94 Mighty Shrikes (C) VFA-97 Warhawks (C) VFA-113 Stingers (C) VFA-146 Blue Diamonds (C) VFA-151 Vigilantes (C) VFA-192 Golden Dragons (C) VFA-125 Rough Raiders (disestablished October 2010; aircraft incorporated into VFA-122)

VFA-2 Bounty Hunters (F) VFA-14 Tophatters (E) VFA-22 Fighting Redcocks (F) VFA-41 Black Aces (F) VFA-86 Sidewinders (E) VFA-122 Flying Eagles (A,B,C,D,E,F) VFA-137 Kestrels (E) VFA-147 Argonauts (E) VFA-154 Black Knights (F) VFA-27 Royal Maces (E) Forward deployed to NAF Atsugi,CVW-5 VFA-102 Diamondbacks (F) Forward deployed to NAF Atsugi,CVW-5 VFA-115 Eagles (E) Forward deployed to NAF Atsugi,CVW-5 VFA-195 Dambusters (E) Forward deployed to NAF Atsugi,CVW-5

Tenant Activities

FAA Airport Diagram

• Strike Fighter Wing Pacific
• Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific
• Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department
• AIMD Sea Operational Detachment
• Fleet Industrial Support 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)
• Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Detachment.
• 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

References

United States Navy portal

• "Naval Air Station Lemoore". Official web site. https://www.cnic.navy.mil/Lemoore/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-11. 
• "Naval Air Station Lemoore". GlobalSecurity.org. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/lemoore.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-30. 
• FAA Airport Master Record for NLC (Form 5010 PDF)

External links

• http://www.cnic.navy.mil/Lemoore/index.htm (official site)
• Resources for this U.S. military airport:
  • 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 20 October 2011