Major upgrades to RAF Fairford's airfield runway and other facilities, totalling more than £24m, have been completed

Posted: 13th November 2022

Major upgrades to RAF Fairford’s airfield runway and other facilities, totalling more than £24m, have been completed. The Gloucestershire airbase got the makeover as part of an initiative to improve the base’s support capabilities for the US Air Force (USAF) and will see further upgrades as part of a national programme.

The funding for this upgrade to less than one mile of runway comes from the Ministry of Defence’s £117m United States Visiting Forces (USVF) infrastructure project, which aims to improve operations capabilities at UK airbases used by the USAF – who have had military bases in the UK since World War Two and the birth of the US-UK special relationship.

As with most defence projects, details about what has been upgraded have not been officially published. However, according to the USAF unit partly based at Fairford, the 501st Combat Support WIng’s social media: “The $28m project replaced nearly 1.5km of taxiways and 11 ramps, along with installing a new drainage system and LED airfield ground lighting.”

They also said: “[the MOD] and associated contractors have recently finished a series of airfield upgrades to improve operational capabilities and streamline maintenance.”

The 501st is an admin support unit that manages and supports the wider USAF’s operational capabilities at RAF Fairford, which is used as a forward operating base in Europe for the US’ B-52, B-1, and B-2 bombers – as well as the U-2 spy plane.

These upgrades to the runway, its ramps, and associated drainage systems, will be just one part of the upgrades being made to RAF Fairford to support visiting US nuclear-capable bombers, as well as their crews as part of the wider USVF infrastructure project. The MOD project is set to run for at least another four years.

Other airbases used by USAF that will be receiving upgrades as part of the infrastructure programme include: RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall, RAF Croughton, RAF Molesworth, RAF Alconbury, and RAF Menwith Hill.

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/cheltenham-news/raf-fairford-finishes-24m-upgrade-7802948