First, a reminder of what is where on the base. Protective aircraft shelters are marked with a pink dot. Taxiways, loops, pads and parking aprons are marked with their identifying letter.
Now some photo sequences to show what has changed in the last few years:
Victor-Tango-Yankee
2022 : 2023 : 2024 - Renovation of the area of Victor taxiway, Tango and Yankee loops. One obvious change is the removal of trees around Tango and Yankee, and grass starting to grow in their place. This area contains 22 aircraft shelters: 10 on Yankee, 4 on Tango and 8 on Victor.
As of March 2025, works are essentially complete, though Yankee loop remains closed to aircraft operations.
Uniform
2022 : 2023 : 2024 - Renovation of the area around Uniform taxiway. Note that the trees east of shelters have been left in place.
This area contains 10 aircraft shelters, although the two at the western end are accessed directly from Sierra taxiway, and the easternmost is accessed from Alpha ramp north. For refurbishment of the interior of the shelters, the shelters were divided into two groups: the six east of Uniform first, then later the four to the west. The latter group was still being worked on in March 2025.
Works Timetable
The timetable is based mainly on works information from NOTAMs. However, the archive is available only from 2021-01-04, so all earlier works are omitted.
| from | until | work or event |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-01-04 | 2021-11-03 | Victor shelters |
| 2021-11-01 | 2023-11-14 | Yankee shelters |
| 2022-11-14 | 2022-12-30 | Yankee tree removal |
| 2024-01-31 | 2025-03-03 | Uniform east shelters |
| 2024-04-08 | 2024-04-09 | Victor ramp used for PNAF Cat1 aircraft |
| 2024-08-05 | 2024-09-26 | Tango shelters |
| 2024-10-28 | to present | Uniform west shelters |
| 2025-01-16 | to present | Yankee loop closed |
| 2025-01-23 | 2025-01-25 | Victor first used for PNAF training |
One thing that stands out, is that works on the shelters on Yankee took a long time, and that loop remains out of use even after completion of works. It is known from the works at Volkel that adapting shelters for use by F-35As required significant internal changes, so if Yankee shelters are intended for F-35As, this could be a reasonable explanation.
The continued closure of Yankee may be becuase the new paving needs time to settle before use. Another explanation is that the facilities are awaiting / undergoing inspection(s) for the purpose of certification for a resumed 'surety mission'. The proposed patrol road outside the fence around Yankee, and the Wall, below, may also indicators of this. Once the various facilities have been certified, focus would move on to operational certification, towards which the start of training with PNAF is a contribution.
Interior Works: WS3 SLEP & PAS-IIDS
While the works discussed above deal mainly with facilities exterior to the Protective Aircraft Shelters (PAS), critical work has also been taking place inside the PAS.
The vaults in which the weapons would be stored, known as Weapon Storage and Security System (WS3), have also been updated under a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP). This work was already under way at five other bases in April 2021. In addition, the PAS were to have PAS-IIDS (Interior Intrusion Detection System) installed.
The contract for the interior works was awarded to Atlantic CommTech Corporation of Norfolk, Virginia, in 2022 and valued at around $14.3 million. The contracted date for completion of the installation, testing and training activities is listed as 2025-07-17.
Extract from 'Justification and Approval' document regarding these works:
The action being processed is the solicitation of a sole source contract to Atlantic CommTech Corporation (ACT) as a follow on award to previous effort performed by ACT under WS3 SLEP Contract Number, FA9422-16-C-8041. The previous effort for WS3 SLEP was a competitive award under FAR Part 15.3 formal Source Selection procedures and awarded on 12 September 2016. Under this new award, ACT shall build, integrate and install the Protective Aircraft Shelter Interior Intrusion Detection System (PAS-IIDS), Weapon Storage and Security System (WS3) Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) as a single configuration at [REDACTED] to improve sustainability, extend service life of WS3, and ensure it continues to meet USAFE/NATO requirements. ACT shall successfully complete Contractor Verification Testing upon installation of all installed equipment to verify the system meets all
Although the location for the installation given in the document had been redacted in many places, on page 3 the base identifer 'RAFL' survived the censor's pen. Once the contract had been approved, the base was identified as 'Lakenheath AB'.
The Wall
An opaque structure - fence or wall - has appeared outside the security fence near the north-west corner of Yankee loop.
It could be screen to prevent dust/debris reaching the runway during repaving, or during construction of the proposed patrol road.
Or could it be a barrier to block the view of what is going on around the shelters from outside the north-west corner of the base?
Satllites photos from Google Maps and ArcGis Online.