Historic California
Posts, Camps, Stations and Airfields
Naval Air Station,
Lemoore
(Summit Lake Auxiliary
Field)
NAS Lemoore
by GlobalSecurity.org
With the transfer of NAS Miramar to the
US 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.
NAS Lemoore is the Navy's newest and largest
master jet air station. 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 will eventually replace the F-14 Tomcat in fleet
service as an air superiority fighter as well as assume, 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 two Fleet Replacement
[training] Squadrons and ten Fleet [operational] Squadrons. In
addition to the Hornet and Super Hornet population, NAS Lemoore
also operates three UH-1N Search and Rescue Helicopters and hosts
the UC-12B logistics aircraft.
The station encompasses almost 30,000
acres, of which 18,784 are owned outright by the Navy, and 11,020
more are used under air easement contract. The farmers owning
or renting the land may raise crops in areas under the air easement
but can only do so with the provision that no structure more
than 25 feet in height – or any permanent living quarters
– be built there. The operations and runway areas are located
7 miles from the administrative and housing areas of the base.
Considering all population working, living or eligible for service
on the base, NAS Lemoore is the fourth largest city in Kings
County.
The "Green Belt" is an area
three miles wide adjacent to and extending completely around
the Station. It was established by the Kings and Fresno Counties
Planning Commissions to control all urban development in order
to prevent future problems incident to jet aircraft noise and
population build-up adjacent to the station. The U.S. Navy presently
outleases 12,737 acres, resulting in revenues to the U.S. Government
totaling over $1.3 million dollars a year and in land improvements
valued at over $1 million dollars per year.
Located in a rich agricultural area, NAS
Lemoore offers sailors, Marines and civilians a small hometown
atmosphere of rural America. Yet surrounding Lemoore are California's
playgrounds - Los Angeles, San Francisco, the Sierra Mountains
and the Pacific Ocean. NAS Lemoore is located in California's
San Joaquin Valley, primarily in Kings County, 40 miles south
of Fresno, 14 miles west of Hanford, and 7 miles west of Lemoore
on State Highway 198. Fresno is a city of approximately 421,000
people while Hanford, the seat of Kings County and the location
of most of the local government agencies, is approximately 42,000
people in size and growing rapidly. Lemoore’s population
is half of Hanford’s, at 18,361.
Commissioned in 1961, NAS Lemoore is the
newest air station in the Navy. Two offset parallel runways were
laid out 4,600 feet apart. Aircraft parking and maintenance hangars
are aligned between the 13,500 foot runways. Separated from the
hangars by an underpass beneath taxiway A, 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 will bring four new fleet squadrons
to Naval Air Station Lemoore over the period 2001-2004. Additional
military staffing will be required at Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance
Detachment, Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific, and Naval
Air Maintenance Training Group to support this effort.
There are over 40 tenants onboard NAS
Lemoore. The major ones include: Commander, Strike Fighter Wing
Pacific Fleet; Carrier Air Wings 2, 9, 11, 14; Strike Fighter
Weapons School, Pacific; Strike Fighter Squadrons 22, 25, 94,
97, 113, 115, 122, 125, 137, 146, 147, and 151; 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 and Branch
Dental Clinic; Naval Training Systems Center; Trainer Systems
Support Activity and Naval Air Reserve Center and Aircraft Intermediate
Maintenance Detachment.
Assigned to and maintained by the Air
Operations Maintenance Division at Naval Air Station Lemoore
are three Bell Textron HH-1N helicopters to provide primary search
and rescue for military aircraft stationed at NAS Lemoore. Also
used as an asset for both personnel transport and medevac is
the station’s UC-12B aircraft maintained by AGES Aerospace
Services Incorporated. Operational support extends to approximately
a 100 mile radius from NAS Lemoore west to the coast of Monterey
and east to Mt. Whitney (at an elevation of 14,495 feet). In
conjunction with the National Search and Rescue Plan, an average
of 32 rescue and medevac missions are flown each year. NAS Lemoore
SAR has also assisted other search and rescue agencies, local
sheriffs and fire departments. Training sorties of various types
are conducted daily to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the east
or the Santa Maria Range to the west, offering extensive training
to both pilots and aircrew in search and rescue techniques. The
superior performance of the team was recently commended with
the receipt of the 1996 Chief of Naval Operation's SAR Excellence
Award for the most outstanding SAR unit.
Lemoore is located in roughly the geograhical
center of California. It has an elevation of 225 feet and receives
about 9 inches of rain per year. It is equal distance between
Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. In the summer months,
Lemoore is hot and dry with cloudless skies. The temperature
often rises above 100 degrees; however, humidity usually stays
a low 25 percent. Fog starts to roll in during November through
the winter months and usually burns off by the afternoon to yield
sunny skies. Beaches are within a 2-hour's drive, and mountain
skiing is less than a 3-hour's drive.
The Air Station is located on Highway
198, nineteen miles east of Interstate 5 or thirty miles west
of Highway 99. Both highways provide easy access to the Air Station.
If you drive, the following routes are suggested - VIA Bakersfield
take state route 99 north to Visalia, then west on state route
198 to NAS Lemoore. VIA San Francisco or Sacramento take Interstate
5 south to state route 198, then east to NAS Lemoore. The Fresno
Air Terminal is located 40 miles north of the Air Station. There
is no bus service available to the Air Station. The base is a
one-hour drive south from Fresno.
In accordance with the legislative requirements
of the Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-510),
as implemented by the 1993 Defense Base Closure and Realignment
process (BRAC-93), the Navy was directed to relocate mission
and operations from NAS Miramar to NAS Lemoore, California. The
majority of naval training at NAS Miramar were relocated to NAS
Lemoore. The realignment relocated 56 F-14 and 16 E-2 aircraft
from NAS Miramar to NAS Lemoore, resulting in an increase of
72 aircraft at NAS Lemoore.
The number of permanent-party personnel
necessary to support, service, and maintain new aircraft and
flight operations and apprentice school training increased by
approximately 3,990 and the number of civilian personnel increased
by 484 over the period from 1995 through 1998. The number of
school age students in grades kindergarten through 12 increased
by approximately 2,300 by 1998. About 98 military construction
(MILCON) projects were required to accommodate the realignment
at NAS Lemoore. The projects include upgrades of existing facilities,
construction of new facilities to support new aircraft operations
and maintenance functions, and new housing and temporary quarters
for the increased number of students and permanent-party personnel.
Approximately 1,936 of the personnel relocating to NAS Lemoore
live off-station and reside primarily in the nearby Lemoore and
Hanford communities.
In addition to the construction and renovation
projects, future establishment of a Lemoore Military Operations
Area (MOA) and two Air Traffic Control Assigned Spaces (ATCAAs)
were addressed. The Lemoore MOA extended approximately 23 miles
northwest of NAS Lemoore and 37 miles southeast to include approximately
2,055 square miles of airspace. The ATCAAs were implemented within
the geographic boundaries of the MOA. The Lemoore MOA and the
ATCAAs designate airspace for military training activities. The
Navy will applied to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
for formal designation of the MOA and ATCAAs.
The Defense Base Closure and Realignment
Act waived certain aspects of NEPA such that the environmental
analysis need not consider the noaction alternative (no realignment),
nor other realignment locations. Alternative means of accommodating
the mandated BRAC-93 realignment at NAS Lemoore that were considered,
but eliminated from detailed analysis, include retrofitting and
remodeling existing structures and the use of rental units outside
NAS Lemoore. Sites considered at NAS Lemoore for the new facilities/renovations
avoided environmentally sensitive areas, and were selected based
on the following functional considerations: adequacy of existing
structures for the proposed uses, availability of utilities,
and proximity of the structure/site to existing and related facilities,
such as hangars, warehouses, classrooms, administrative offices,
housing and recreational facilities.
The action increased total flight operations
at NAS Lemoore, but did not produce a significant change in ambient
noise levels onstation or in surrounding communities. Appropriate
noise level reduction measures were incorporated into Bachelor
Enlisted Quarter (BEQ) and Bachelor Officer Quarter (BOQ) facilities
to ensure appropriate interior noise levels.
Construction activity near residential
areas was limited to normal daytime working hours to minimize
temporary construction noise impacts. The BRAC action resulted
in significant mitigatable air quality impacts related to construction
activities, added stationary emission sources, added aircraft
flight operations, added motor vehicle traffic, and added area
sources (building and landscape maintenance, space heating, etc.).
No new violations of national ambient air quality standards were
anticipated as a result of the BRAC action. Mitigation measures
were implemented to reduce the potential for localized dust conditions
at construction sites to ensure compliance with the San Joaquin
Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD) rules
and regulations, and to implement SJVUAPCD mobile and area source
emission reduction programs. Added stationary source emissions
were offset through existing SJVUAPCD permit procedures.
The action at NAS Lemoore did not significantly
impact any Department of Defense Installation Restoration Program
(IRP) sites. Construction projects located adjacent to IRP sites
were designed to avoid the sites. The action did not violate
any conditions of the NAS Lemoore Waste Management Plan or the
Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures Plan. There was
no significant impacts to hazardous materials, as long as all
applicable laws, regulations, and standard operating procedures
are followed. Pursuant to Executive Order 12898, Environmental
Justice, potential environmental and economic impacts on minority
and low-income persons and communities were assessed. These persons
and communities were not be disproportionately adversely affected
by the NAS Lemoore BRAC action. The increase in population from
the action did not result in significant impacts to housing,
facilities, or services on-base or in the region. The additional
economic activity from the action resulted in a net positive
effect on the local economy. The action did not significantly
impact existing land uses at NAS Lemoore. The additional vehicular
traffic generated by the action resulted in significant mitigable
impacts to transportation, traffic, and circulation. The Navy
coordinated selection of mitigation for six intersections on
or near NAS Lemoore which appeared to warrant the installation
of signals or an equivalent improvement to accommodate the increase
in traffic resulting from the action.
The BRAC action increased the number of
school-aged children by an estimated 2,300 students. Between
975 to 1,240 of these students who are of elementary school age
(K-8) were expected to attend on-station schools. The increase
in students exceeded the physical capacity of the two on-station
elementary schools as well as the maximum allowable student/teacher
ratio. The physical capacity of Lemoore Union High School was
also be exceeded. Therefore, the BRAC action resulted in a significant,
but mitigable, impact to the school system. Identified mitigation
measures included construction of a new on-base school, expanding
the physical capacity of existing schools by leased or leased-to-own
portable classroom units, and/or by constructing additional classrooms.
The Navy recognized the significance of these impacts and identified
feasible mitigation to assure a high quality education environment
for dependent children.
The existing utility infrastructure was
upgraded as part of the BRAC action to accommodate the demands
of the BRAC relocation. Therefore, utilities at NAS Lemoore have
adequate capacity to serve the additional personnel. NAS Lemoore
personnel residing offstation did not have a significant impact
on the regional water supply. Police and fire protection services
are adequate to serve the needs of the new facilities, as are
solid waste disposal facilities. No significant impacts resulted
to recreational facilities, either onor off-station.
The action resulted in no significant
impacts to plant or animal species listed as threatened or endangered
by either federal or state agencies, or to sensitive habitats.
No impact resulted to cultural resources or properties of traditional
cultural significance. No impacts resulted to visual resources
due to the action.
The relocation of fighter/attack assets,
particularly F/A-18 squadrons from NAS Miramar to NAS Lemoore
imposed additional airspace requirements at and near NAS Lemoore.
The primary airspace resource used by Lemoore fighter missions
is the R-2508 complex. The Foothills MOA is used to marshal aircraft
prior to entering R-2508. In addition, approximately ten sorties
per day launch from Lemoore and proceed to the Fallon complex.
The proximity and volume of airspace within the R-2508 complex
is convenient and operationally suitable.
The growth in activity in the area adjacent
to the complex has exacerbated a long-standing dispute between
the managers of the R-2508 complex and the National Park Service
regarding overflights of the Kings Canyon area. Recent agreements
to limit overflights of the area in order to reduce perceived
intrusions on the park were negotiated with the concurrence of
senior leadership of both the local test communities and the
primary operational user (COMNAVAIRPAC). Operational impacts
are thus far not determined; perceptions of the agreement vary
and appear to reflect the source. Some users note that the airspace
can be used below the agreed FL180 “standard mission”
floor by simply requesting it, while anecdotal comments attributed
to groups and individuals opposed to military use of the airspace
indicate that they believe they have effectively denied use of
the area to the military.
NAS Lemoore has long considered development
of a MOA directly over the field. While this development has
the potential to offer relief to constrained airspace, and especially
to offer usable space for "low-end" activities (i.e.
basic flight maneuvers, functional check flights), three factors
will need to receive serious consideration prior to proceeding
with any serious planning. The MOA must be evaluated for its
potential impact on NAS Lemoore itself. Lemoore is relatively
unconstrained by local operational ATC restrictions. Development
and use of an overhead MOA may impose limitations on the airfield
that outweigh the MOA's operational utility. The surrounding
civil communities, while not immediately adjacent, are affected
by ATC and airspace issues at Lemoore. Adjacent FAA-managed ATC
facilities would have to be offered the opportunity to participate
and have their concerns addressed in any development process,
while the environmental effects of a new MOA, unless floored
at an extraordinarily high level, would certainly invite a spirited
public debate. An overhead MOA at Lemoore may offer only limited
vertical airspace. Traffic bound to and from the Los Angeles
area has been identified as a limitation to establishment of
SUA/ATCAA at higher than low-sector (FL 230) altitudes. The area’s
floor could be environmentally constrained (see above); in addition,
discussions with airspace managers indicated that an existing
tall transmitting tower could be a factor in the availability
of low altitude airspace.
Summit Lake
Auxiliary Field
Also known as Lemoore Auxiliary Field
A-6, this was a 3,000 x 3,000 foot oiled landing mat. The site
is now under one of the runways of NAS Lemoore. Little else is
known about this site.
