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

[Brave New World]

There is no Mention of Mildenhall in any of the articles written, why would the moving of 1 fighter squadron affect Mildenhall ( it wouldn’t) there is no mention of them closing spag either, only moving the fighter sq and an army brigade, I think you guys need to look at the bigger picture, the usaf is trying to save money not spend it, Mildenhall can be easily closed and it’s aircraft moved it has no special features like Lakenheath or Fairford and given the recent pandemic it closure will probably be sped up.

Other than the 52nd Fighter Wing there is not much at Spang, and it was the Wall Street Journal the first mentioned the F-16's leaving Germany and this was followed by Stars and Stripes.

As for Mildenhall it's closure has now been out back to 2027, with a further article in Stars and Stripes itdicating t was now on hold and being reviewed.

[Spitfire88]

There is no Mention of Mildenhall in any of the articles written, why would the moving of 1 fighter squadron affect Mildenhall ( it wouldn’t) there is no mention of them closing spag either, only moving the fighter sq and an army brigade, I think you guys need to look at the bigger picture, the usaf is trying to save money not spend it, Mildenhall can be easily closed and it’s aircraft moved it has no special features like Lakenheath or Fairford and given the recent pandemic it closure will probably be sped up.

Other than the 52nd Fighter Wing there is not much at Spang, and it was the Wall Street Journal the first mentioned the F-16's leaving Germany and this was followed by Stars and Stripes.

As for Mildenhall it's closure has now been out back to 2027, with a further article in Stars and Stripes itdicating t was now on hold and being reviewed.

I understand it was put back until 2027 but that was before covid-19 , given the usaf current scramble to save money the sensible money is on a much sooner closure now.

[TeeJay]

Good job it was still there today otherwise 14 F15s could have been in a muddle

[Brave New World]

There is no Mention of Mildenhall in any of the articles written, why would the moving of 1 fighter squadron affect Mildenhall ( it wouldn’t) there is no mention of them closing spag either, only moving the fighter sq and an army brigade, I think you guys need to look at the bigger picture, the usaf is trying to save money not spend it, Mildenhall can be easily closed and it’s aircraft moved it has no special features like Lakenheath or Fairford and given the recent pandemic it closure will probably be sped up.

Other than the 52nd Fighter Wing there is not much at Spang, and it was the Wall Street Journal the first mentioned the F-16's leaving Germany and this was followed by Stars and Stripes.

As for Mildenhall it's closure has now been out back to 2027, with a further article in Stars and Stripes itdicating t was now on hold and being reviewed.

I understand it was put back until 2027 but that was before covid-19 , given the usaf current scramble to save money the sensible money is on a much sooner closure now.

I don't think Covid-19 has any bearing on it, indeed one of the reasins for not moving was because the USAF didn't have the money to build new facilities in Germany, and money ewas also diverted by Trump to the Mexican Wall including money for DABs at Fairford.

[Brave New World]

As for Huawei and Germany, unlike the UK which is ridding itself of Huawei by 2023, the Germans look likely to go ahead with Huawei 5G, as do the Italians and Spanish, so that's a lot of bases for Tom Cotton to demand close. Perhaps you can move the US Mediterranean naval bases to Poland.

The UK in contrast has now stated Huawei will be reduced to zero input in the telecoms system by 2023 and an actual date is now being demanded by some MP's.

So given that Germany, Italy and Spain/Portugal look like pushing ahead with Huawei 5G does that mean that Cotton and others in the US Senate will e demanding that US Aircraft, troops and weapons are withdrawn from these countries.

I wonder what Senator Cottons plan is in regard to replacing Ramstein and the new $1 Billion US Military Hospital being built close to the airfield.

Germany, Trump's (almost) Waterloo

If any capital has been hard to convince, it's Berlin.

The German government was one of the first to be courted by U.S. diplomats about the issue — and quickly rebuffed their arguments.

Skepticism about Washington's allegations against Huawei fueled Berlin's caution, but so did the government's trauma of U.S. surveillance practices and the hacking of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone years earlier. What's more, Germany's leading operators Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone have existing 4G telecoms networks that rely on Huawei for well over half of their total makeup. The German government also fears that barring the Chinese vendor would heavily damage its ties with China, its largest trading partner.

However, the debate is ongoing. After months of pressure from parliament and Merkel's smaller coalition partner, the interior ministry earlier this month proposed a draft law, seen by POLITICO, that would increase security requirements for 5G suppliers, including granting that ministry new powers to block nontrusted suppliers from the market.

But it's unclear how the government plans to assess suppliers' trustworthiness. Merkel's allies in the government are still skeptical of any hard restrictions on using Chinese equipment.

Trump and friends: Where European countries come down on Huawei - Politico

Italy has no plans to exclude Chinese firms from 5G network, minister says - Reuters

Telefonica Spain selects Huawei for part of its 5G core network: Report

Boris Johnson forced to reduce Huawei’s role in UK’s 5G networks - The Guardian

[skysearcher]

I think at this point we're all speculating, because many of us would like the Hall to stay... her'es my thoughts
- usaf will want to keep Spang and Ramstein - two of the best quality of life assignments in the force. Moving the AMC mission to spang was a strategic move to keep it open... If the F-16s are moved out to poland / further east, I'd see the planned relocation of 352SOW being brought forward, despite concerns about low level / noise etc. being closer to the army SoF adds some training advantages
- the majority of the reduction of forces in Germany will come from the army i think , probably moving to poland, who have agreed to pay a decent % of the cost for moving and hosting them.
- since the493rd only exist now on temporary funding under the EDI... wondering if there's a chance they would be sent to Spang as a FOL?

[quid21]

Spang and Ramstein - two of the best quality of life assignments in the force.

Unlike Elmendorf

[Brave New World]

I think at this point we're all speculating, because many of us would like the Hall to stay... her'es my thoughts
- usaf will want to keep Spang and Ramstein - two of the best quality of life assignments in the force. Moving the AMC mission to spang was a strategic move to keep it open... If the F-16s are moved out to poland / further east, I'd see the planned relocation of 352SOW being brought forward, despite concerns about low level / noise etc. being closer to the army SoF adds some training advantages
- the majority of the reduction of forces in Germany will come from the army i think , probably moving to poland, who have agreed to pay a decent % of the cost for moving and hosting them.
- since the493rd only exist now on temporary funding under the EDI... wondering if there's a chance they would be sent to Spang as a FOL?

The US want less forces in Germany so they can rotate, and they will not be wanting to move any units there, whilst Germany has also not ruled out Huawei 5G, something the US including Trump, Pompeo and Cotton have been making their mouths go over.

The last thing the Trump administration want is to move more units in to Germany, and it would also make little sense in terms of a military that will already be pushed to keep the headcount under 25,000.

[page_verify]

In January 2020, the USAF awarded $425 million of contracts for Ramstein and Spangdahlem improvements. This work was to support the moving of the Ospreys to Spang and the KC-46 to Ramstein. I can suggest a way the USAF could save $425m in an instant......


https://www.stripes.com/news/europe/air ... s-1.616093

[Vulcan74]

Whatever, but it won't happen overnight so at the earliest you would be looking at 2024 by the time the building contracts etc have been completed!!

[page_verify]

Not sure what you mean by whatever, my suggestion was the USAF could easily save itself $425m by removing the need to upgrade Ramstein and Spang.

[filmman]

Nobody really knows the future of Mildenhall and other European bases.
But we can consider the context. Most of Europe is in the EU trade bloc which is increasingly falling out with the USA. The USA establishment is increasingly irritated by the ungrateful "EU" and wants it to take more of the burden seeing off Russia; The USA having a growing China problem. Trump's America first policy is popular back home. If the USA runs down their European bases how robust is their tripwire commitment. Can the EU rely only on the French/UK deterrent. Meanwhile the EU demands UK fish, etc,. In the long term the UK could reconsider its ancient European policy - which was to prevent a dominant European Nation - now the EU Commission dominates.
So, first the USA elections and then who knows what emerges from the Hill, a polite term for the Washington Swamp. Will USA fully stay, partly run down, mainly retreat to the UK or go home as after WW2?
Filmman

[starfighter]

Now there’s a lot of good points to consider, as the world keeps changing ( almost at the moment every few months) so could it
seems the policy makers keep moving there little pieces on the Risk board.
Steve.

[Reach1985]

In January 2020, the USAF awarded $425 million of contracts for Ramstein and Spangdahlem improvements. This work was to support the moving of the Ospreys to Spang and the KC-46 to Ramstein. I can suggest a way the USAF could save $425m in an instant......


https://www.stripes.com/news/europe/air ... s-1.616093

If memory serves earlier this year there was then an article (following this one) that effectively said that Mildenhall divestment was now on indefinite hold (following an earlier communication that said no earlier than 2027). If i recall correctly the Germans (or the few of them who were profiting from these contracts were non to happy).

Obviously this may now have all changed!

I found the article from March this year:

https://www.stripes.com/news/plans-to-m ... d-1.621904

[Brave New World]

In January 2020, the USAF awarded $425 million of contracts for Ramstein and Spangdahlem improvements. This work was to support the moving of the Ospreys to Spang and the KC-46 to Ramstein. I can suggest a way the USAF could save $425m in an instant......


https://www.stripes.com/news/europe/air ... s-1.616093

If memory serves earlier this year there was then an article (following this one) that effectively said that Mildenhall divestment was now on indefinite hold (following an earlier communication that said no earlier than 2027). If i recall correctly the Germans (or the few of them who were profiting from these contracts were non to happy).

Obviously this may now have all changed!

I found the article from March this year:

https://www.stripes.com/news/plans-to-m ... d-1.621904

Exactly - the same article suggested the decision was being reassessed, and it sounds like plans to move troops and to introduce a cap on German personnel were already known when the article was published.

Plans to close RAF Mildenhall in England and move its refueling tankers and a special operations wing to Germany have been put on hold, the Pentagon said this week.

The “action to divest RAF Mildenhall is on pause until U.S. European Command completes a reassessment of the previous closure decision and the U.S. Department of Defense makes a decision on the future of the installation,” a Pentagon official with knowledge of the matter said in a statement Monday.

The official, who provided a written statement on background to Stars and Stripes, did not say why the move to shutter Mildenhall was being reevaluated.

https://www.stripes.com/news/plans-to-m ... d-1.621904

[downes0106]

You have to feel for the personnel and local residents. This will they, wont they saga makes the future so uncertain. From a selfish aviation enthusiast viewpoint, i hope it stays, as i enjoy a trip up to Johns Field every now and then.

[RJ79]

According to Twitter (thanks to TonyO for retweeting) it looks like the writing's on the wall for Spang. Looks like their F-16's will be moving to Poland (amongst other things). I'm guessing in turn that the base will go the same way as Bitburg (just down the road). It will be interesting to see if (a) this leak is true and then (b) the knock on for Mildenhall, I'm guessing this would go a long way to saving it.

[thevulcan]

In the most recent budget review it states that the RC-135's are to move to fairford by 2023 however all other assets at Mildenhall are now on indefinite hold. Hope this helps. Certainly starting to look like Mildenhall may live another few decades.

[page_verify]

There was always talk that the RC-135s had wanted to get out of Mildenhall at the first opportunity for a few years before it was decided to close Mildenhall. The funding to move them comes from a different pot (ACC) to the money to move things around Europe (USAFE) so it's possible that, like you say, the move will still happen even if Mildenhall remains open.

[slogen51]

Is the Secretary of Defence giving Mildenhall good news or is he hear to bollock the Lakenheath airfield management?

It is a he is it ?