lakenheath HAS complex north side

[stuie492]

Will.they build more HAS or demolish the northside HAS complex for the f35 ?

[Dazza37]

Why would they (the USAF) do either, surely the JointShiteFighters will just occupy the hangars vacated by the F-15s they'll be replacing?

-Dazza

[bobthehandyman]

Why would they (the USAF) do either, surely the JointShiteFighters will just occupy the hangars vacated by the F-15s they'll be replacing?

-Dazza

Not that I know for sure, but read somewhere, they will be flying F-15 with the addition of F35,s, not saying your wrong Dazza, just seem to recall this in my head, and of course your talking about the USAF, so logic can not be applied

[Tronk 11]

That's a good question. They may need to modify them, but can't see them demolishing them and start again (they are a bit hard to demolish). The only thing may be for new avionics, or engine exhausts for a single engined fighter, but cant.see that as single engine F-16's have used them. I think they'll move straight in. Will the F-35's be short take off and landing versions, if so will they need new pads, or are they just long runway versions.

[tm74sqn]

They will be F-35A at Lakenheath, the long(ish) runway version. So no pads really needed at Lakenheath. But there will be plenty at Marham for the UK's F-35B STOL version fleet.
HTH, TM74

[webbysdad]

On the subject of HAS demolition, Many years ago, when USAF left Upper Heyford, tenders were apparently requested from specialist demolition firms to demolish the HAS's. Don't know how true it was but I heard only one company tendered at around £1m per HAS!!! Was said that as they were built to withstand nuclear blast nearby, they would be difficult to take down!! Last time I was in the area there were still 50+ standing!

[page_verify]

In Trump's wishlist (my new name for his defence budget as I suspect he's going to struggle to get the money he dreamt he can get), there was mention of $10.8m for F-35A/F-15 Parking and an F-35A 6-Bay Hangar/$24m. It reads to me as though some of the ageing hangar and maintenance space will get upgraded while the Alpha and Charlie Ramps will be extended to accommodate the F-35s. There's no mention of any extra HASs being built.

Regarding the HAS demolition costs, £1m each sounds feasible but just because of their size and type of construction, the fact they're designed to stand a nearby nuclear blast may well be a bit of a dramatisation about why it costs so much. One of my customers is a demolition company that demolishes old industrial furnaces and they often cost a lot more than a million to get rid of. (Fact of the day, large industrial furnaces are normally only designed to be lit once....)

[Dan423]

Last I heard was that there's no plans to demolish the shelters in green/North side, however there's going to be a lot of infrastructure changes over that side in the next few years.