RAF Mildenhall to close. Lakenheath to get F-35 by 2020

[Ghost from above]

Agree mushbuster
Dont forget the upgraded housing, Cctv towers, extensive main gate works at the same time and the recent demo of old accomodation blocks.Aside from that there is a need to spend an extensive amount of money on site to upgrade current facilities from 1990 levels to something approaching the levels and expectations now. You only need to check planning to see the difference in investment between Lakenheath and Fairford.

[page_verify]

I think that's probably pretty close to the reality - Fairford would need a lot spending on it to make its role significantly different to what it's been for the last 25 years and I don't think anyone with the budget to pay for those upgrades has any interest in funding what is ultimately now a standby base for Global Strike Command. The fact that the RC-135s are moving to an already crowded fighter base shows just how loathed someone is to spend money on upgrading Fairford.

What I haven't seen any mention of is which parts of Mildenhall are going to close. I remember it always being referred to as a superbase with Lakenheath because they share a lot of base facilities. I wonder if someone's now counted just how much of Mildenhall would need to be kept open to support Lakenheath and now thought sodd it they might as well keep it open?!

[bobthehandyman]

https://www.facebook.com/SpangdahlemAir ... 932383537/
Spang doing going through the process of moving the 352 SOW.....

[Ghost from above]

As if to make the point the below was released on 30 September by DIO
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ement-plan

If you scroll to the bottom it gives you details of projected programs up to 2022 page 33 to 41 and already awarded Page 42 onward for contracts awarded up to 2020
Lakenheath has 13 fairly costly projects that involve infrastructure line services
Fairford has 3 and they relate to ongoing runway/taxiway maintenance

Therefore Lakenheath gets the lion share of investment and Fairford just ticks along

[skysearcher]

Interesting to see the DIO procurement plan has been taken off-line with a message saying it was published in error....

[gurkha1]

I think we can safely say Fairford will stay as is and the closures are pretty much set in stone which ever candidate get in as President of the USA.

[city42]

There some one saying on the Anglia military aviation on facebook that lakenheath may shut as well now i hope this is not true

[Agent K]

There some one saying on the Anglia military aviation on facebook that lakenheath may shut as well now i hope this is not true

Idle and ill informed speculation without doubt. Lakenheath has never featured on the base closures lists or proposals, just to look at that DIO document indicated investment as it built up to take F35's too.

[bizfreeq]

There some one saying on the Anglia military aviation on facebook that lakenheath may shut as well now i hope this is not true

Ah Facebook where the truth never gets in the way of total bo**ocks!

[Ghost from above]

Unlikely DIO plan showed for Lakenheath
Current awarded contracts circa £750,000 up to 30/12/18 4 Projects
Future contracts
Under £10 million 4 projects 17/18
£10-£50 Million 2 Projects 17-18 / 1 Project 18/19
£100-£500 million 1 Project 17/18 / 1 Project 20/21
The last two shows the scope of investment especially we can summarise the last one being for the F35

[quid21]

With the recent decision to expand Heathrow, it makes me wonder why they don't just turn Mildenhall into an international airport, the runway is long enough, a certain amount of infrastructure is probably there already, good transport links to London down the A11 and the Midlands on the A14.......

Seems a waste of a perfectly good airfield!

[Andy_99]

With the recent decision to expand Heathrow, it makes me wonder why they don't just turn Mildenhall into an international airport, the runway is long enough, a certain amount of infrastructure is probably there already, good transport links to London down the A11 and the Midlands on the A14.......

Seems a waste of a perfectly good airfield!

Don't think the runway is long enough & think of the outcry from the NIMBY's,

In Reality Stansted is only a short distance away & is sat on a Motorway, has rail links etc..

[graham luxton]

Turn Mildenhall into an International Airport then Lakenheath would have to close!

[quid21]

Don't think the runway is long enough & think of the outcry from the NIMBY's,

Planes are not as loud as they used to be - I lived near Stansted's flight path and remember hearing BAC1-11 and Il-76's before the greater noise restrictions - you just get used to it - but today's aircraft are much quieter!

[Agent K]

With the recent decision to expand Heathrow, it makes me wonder why they don't just turn Mildenhall into an international airport, the runway is long enough, a certain amount of infrastructure is probably there already, good transport links to London down the A11 and the Midlands on the A14.......

Seems a waste of a perfectly good airfield!

Single runway thus a single point of failure, too far away from the capital, the S and SE catchment areas that LHR serves too, poor transport links, but I agree otherwise a waste of a good base and useable runway.

[quid21]

With the recent decision to expand Heathrow, it makes me wonder why they don't just turn Mildenhall into an international airport, the runway is long enough, a certain amount of infrastructure is probably there already, good transport links to London down the A11 and the Midlands on the A14.......

Seems a waste of a perfectly good airfield!

Single runway thus a single point of failure, too far away from the capital, the S and SE catchment areas that LHR serves too, poor transport links, but I agree otherwise a waste of a good base and useable runway.

Stansted has a single runway and copes just fine! I agree about the distance, but the Heathrow and London road traffic in general is heavily congested most of the time, but hypothetically at Mildenhall you could be on the A11 to Cambridge or beyond in a couple of minutes.

[Agent K]

With the recent decision to expand Heathrow, it makes me wonder why they don't just turn Mildenhall into an international airport, the runway is long enough, a certain amount of infrastructure is probably there already, good transport links to London down the A11 and the Midlands on the A14.......

Seems a waste of a perfectly good airfield!

Single runway thus a single point of failure, too far away from the capital, the S and SE catchment areas that LHR serves too, poor transport links, but I agree otherwise a waste of a good base and useable runway.

Stansted has a single runway and copes just fine! I agree about the distance, but the Heathrow and London road traffic in general is heavily congested most of the time, but hypothetically at Mildenhall you could be on the A11 to Cambridge or beyond in a couple of minutes.

I think we're discussing different types of operation here. Stansted is predominantly short-haul, narrow body, traffic, without a real hub and spoke operation, once that is factored in the dynamics change as you have distinct peaks and troughs in the daily operation which are restricted in a single runway operation. In fact the single runway operation is a factor that BA has long stated that has restricted it's growth/investment/development at LGW.

I agree with you about traffic congestion! I face it daily

[filmman]

During the Stansted public inquiry I saw the plans for the proposed airport. Stansted has "planning permission" for a second runway; the infrastructure was planned for two and the land for the second runway was supposed to be within the airport boundary. As before there is an ongoing road upgrade for Stansted (A120), Cross rail will improve connections and the Stantead express can easily be improved. A busy Mildenhall civil airport would conflict with both Lakenheath and Stansteas, so it will not happen. Currently ex military sites become housing estates. So the bookies order of probability seems to be (1) Housing estate (2) Marshalls move in and Cambridge airport becomes a Housing estate (3) Mildenhall stays USAF (Putin) (4) MOD keep it as an airfield used by the Army (5) The RAF move in, keep the runway but use the base for mainly non flying uses. I bet those supposedly in charge don't really know either so we keep hearing later and later dates.

[skysearcher]

interesting summary Filmman, thanks.

Any news on latest closure dates for mildy? I think i remember the DoD plan (European Infrastructure Consolidation) saying close by 2020, then saw in the report by SQW commissioned for local authority that EIC said 2022.... any one got another date? Thanks in advance.

[page_verify]

The estimated date of disposal given in the MoD's base review is 2022.