Naval Air Station Lemoore
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).
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. 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.
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. 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.
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.
- Carrier Air Wing 2 (CVW-2), assigned to USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
- Carrier Air Wing 9 (CVW-9), assigned to USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)
- Carrier Air Wing 11 (CVW-11), assigned to USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)
- Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17), assigned to USS Nimitz (CVN-68)
Based flying units
Flying units based at NAS Lemoore.
United States Navy
Commander, Naval Air Forces, Pacific
Tenant squadrons
| Insignia | Squadron | Code | Callsign/Nickname | Assigned Aircraft | Operational Assignment | Administrative Assignment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 2 | VFA-2 | Bounty Hunters | F/A-18F Super Hornet | Carrier Air Wing Two | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 14 | VFA-14 | Tophatters | F/A-18E Super Hornet | Carrier Air Wing Nine | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 22 | VFA-22 | Fighting Redcocks | F/A-18F Super Hornet | Carrier Air Wing Seventeen | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 25 | VFA-25 | Fist of the Fleet | F/A-18E Super Hornet | Carrier Air Wing Eleven | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 41 | VFA-41 | Black Aces | F/A-18F Super Hornet | Carrier Air Wing Nine | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 86 | VFA-86 | Sidewinders | F-35C Lightning II | Commander, Joint Strike Fighter Wing (COMJSFWING) | Commander, Joint Strike Fighter Wing (COMJSFWING) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 94 | VFA-94 | Mighty Shrikes | F/A-18E Super Hornet | Carrier Air Wing Seventeen | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 97 | VFA-97 | Warhawks | F-35C Lightning II | Carrier Air Wing Two | Commander, Joint Strike Fighter Wing (COMJSFWING) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 113 | VFA-113 | Stingers | F/A-18E Super Hornet | Carrier Air Wing Two | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 122 | VFA-122 | Flying Eagles | F/A-18E/F Super Hornet | Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 125 | VFA-125 | Rough Raiders | F-35C Lightning II | Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) | Commander, Joint Strike Fighter Wing (COMJSFWING) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 136 | VFA-136 | Knighthawks | F/A-18E Super Hornet | Carrier Air Wing One | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 137 | VFA-137 | Kestrels | F/A-18E Super Hornet | Carrier Air Wing Seventeen | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 146 | VFA-146 | Blue Diamonds | F/A-18E Super Hornet | Carrier Air Wing Seventeen | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 147 | VFA-147 | Argonauts | F-35C Lightning II | Commander, Joint Strike Fighter Wing (COMJSFWING) | Commander, Joint Strike Fighter Wing (COMJSFWING) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 151 | VFA-151 | Vigilantes | F/A-18E Super Hornet | Carrier Air Wing Nine | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 154 | VFA-154 | Black Knights | F/A-18F Super Hornet | Carrier Air Wing Eleven | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Strike Fighter Squadron 192 | VFA-192 | World Famous Golden Dragons | F/A-18E Super Hornet | Carrier Air Wing Two | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) |
 |
Naval Air Station Lemoore Search and Rescue | NASL SAR | MH-60S Seahawk "Knighthawk" | Naval Air Station Lemoore (NASL) | ||
 |
Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific | SFWSPAC | F/A-18E/F Super Hornet | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) | Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC) | |
 |
Fleet Readiness Center West | FRCW | Naval Air Station Lemoore (NASL) | Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers (COMFRC) |
Other tenant activities
- Fleet Logistics Center San Diego, Det Lemoore
- Fleet Aviation Specialized Operational Training Group, Pacific Fleet
- 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)
- 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
- NAMCE, Naval Aviation Maintenance Center for Excellence
- MWSS 473 Detachment Alpha, Marine Corps Reserve Motor transportation company
Educational institutes
- Akers Elementary School (Preschool–8th)
- Neutra Elementary School (K–5)
- Columbia College
- West Hills College
See also
References
- ^ FAA Airport Form 5010 for NLC PDF
- ^ "Naval Air Station Lemoore". www.cnic.navy.mil.
- ^ "Home". www.csfwp.navy.mil.
- ^ "History". www.csfwp.navy.mil.
- ^ "NAS Lemoore". www.militarybases.us.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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
- ^ Kaminski, Tom (2020). "Air Power Review". US Navy and Marine Corps Air Power Review Yearbook 2020. Key Publishing. pp. 66–81.
Sources
- "Naval Air Station Lemoore". Official website. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
- "Naval Air Station Lemoore". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2006-10-30.
- FAA Airport Form 5010 for NLC PDF
External links
- Official website
- 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
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