RAF Ascension Island | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wideawake Airfield Ascension Island Auxiliary Field | |||||||
| NearGeorgetown in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha | |||||||
 A Royal Air ForceTriStar at RAF Ascension Island | |||||||
 | |||||||
| Site information | |||||||
| Type | Permanent Joint Operating Base | ||||||
| Owner | Ministry of Defence | ||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force andUS Space Force | ||||||
| Controlled by | British Forces South Atlantic Islands | ||||||
| Condition | Operational | ||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||
| Location | |||||||
  RAF Ascension Island Location on Ascension Island Show map of Ascension Island RAF Ascension Island RAF Ascension Island (South Atlantic) Show map of South Atlantic RAF Ascension Island RAF Ascension Island (Atlantic Ocean) Show map of Atlantic Ocean | |||||||
| Coordinates | 07°58′10″S014°23′38″W / 7.96944°S 14.39389°W /-7.96944; -14.39389 | ||||||
| Area | 55 hectares (135.9 acres) | ||||||
| Site history | |||||||
| Built | 1939 (1939) | ||||||
| In use | 1939–present | ||||||
| Garrison information | |||||||
| Current commander |  Wing Commander Alan Huyton[1] | ||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||
| Identifiers | IATA: ASI,ICAO: FHAW,WMO: 61902 | ||||||
| Elevation | 78.6 metres (258 ft)AMSL | ||||||
| |||||||
| Source: UK MIL AIP – FHAW Ascension / Wideawake[2] | |||||||
RAF Ascension Island (IATA:ASI,ICAO:FHAW), also known asWideawake Airfield orAscension Island Auxiliary Field, is a military airfield and facility located onAscension Island in theAtlantic Ocean. The airfield is jointly operated by theRoyal Air Force (RAF) and theUnited States Space Force (USSF). Under the terms of an international agreement between the UK and US governments, only state aircraft (e.g. military and diplomatic flights) are authorised to land at Ascension, with the sole exception being civil aviation between Ascension andSaint Helena.[3]
The facility is home to a U.S. Space Force ground tracking station in support of theEastern Range and rocket launches fromCape Canaveral Space Force Station inFlorida.
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In 1939 Ascension became important as ahigh-frequency direction finding radio station covering trade routes.[4] Wideawake Airfield (named after a noisy colony ofsooty terns nearby) was built by the US military in 1942 by arrangement with the British government. The work was done by a US task force[5] of the USAAF 38th Engineer Combat Regiment and the airfield opened on 10 July 1942.[6] The first aircraft to land on Ascension Island was aFairey Swordfish fromHMSArcher in June, 1942 and it went on to be used by more than 25,000 aircraft as a staging point during theSecond World War.[7] An unusual visitor was a captured GermanJunkers Ju 88 bomber, which landed there in October 1943 as it was being flown from the Middle East to the United States in stages.[8]
AU.S. Air Force tracking station (now administered by theU.S. Space Force) was officially activated as a satellite of Patrick Air Force Base (nowPatrick Space Force Base) in Florida on 25 June 1956.[9]
The airfield's runway was extended in the latter part of 1980.[9] The base was re-garrisoned by the RAF in 1982 and used extensively as a staging airfield, for theAvro Vulcan bombers and theHandley Page Victor tankers, during theFalklands War. A series of long-range bombing raids was carried out from there under the nameOperation Black Buck.[10] The first mission was on 30 April 1982.[11] At one stage during that conflict, Wideawake became the busiest airport in the world for the number of aircraft movements.[12]
In 2017 a parliamentary answer disclosed the runway needed a 'full depth resurfacing'.[13] In June 2020 the U.S. Department of Defense announced the runway would be repaired, with a completion date in 2022 after eighteen months work; until then commercial flights were suspended.[14] Normal flights were able to resume in August/September 2022 when repairs to the eastern side of the runway were completed (see further discussion below).[15]
The USAF relies upon contractors to maintain the airfield facilities and the satellite station. An update is underway, with a completion date in 2025.[16]
The Target Tracking Radar Station was aNike Zeus test facility for tracking reentry vehicles fromCape Canaveral missile launches. Built from 1960-1961 foranti-ballistic missile measurement, the "Golf Ball" radar antenna was onCat Hill, and acollimation tower for radar calibration was towards English Bay.[17] The facility is home to the Detachment 2 of the 45th Mission Support Group, part of the U.S. Space Force'sDelta 45. It operates a ground tracking station in support of theEastern Range and rocket launches fromCape Canaveral Space Force Station inFlorida.[18]
The NASA Tracking Station at Devil's Ashpit and theCable & Wireless Earth Station at Donkey Plain were built in the mid-1960s for space operations and communications, including the latter's use for transmitting "microwave borne data via theEarly Bird Satellite back to the NASA facility atAndover, Maine".[19]
The station comes under the overall jurisdiction of theCommander British Forces South Atlantic Islands, an officer of one-star rank.[20] As of December 2018[update], the incumbent isCommodore Jonathan Lett.[21]
The RAF airfield on Ascension Island is run on a day-to-day basis by around 19 RAF personnel, headed by a wing commander.[20]
RAF Ascension Island is normally the refuelling point for the Ministry of Defence's South Atlantic air bridge flights toRAF Mount Pleasant, on the Falkland Islands, fromRAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, in the UK.[22]
Beginning in November 2017, the Ascension Island Government has contractedSouth African air carrierAirlink to conduct regularly scheduled charter flights betweenSaint Helena Airport and Ascension Island on a monthly basis. Flights are currently scheduled on the second week of every month, arriving at Ascension on Saturday afternoon and returning toSaint Helena on Sunday morning. The first of these flights were scheduled for 18 and 19 November 2017.[23] Additionally civilian passengers had been permitted on flights to and fromRAF Brize Norton with reservations handled by AW Ship Management, with some customers doing package deals combined with theRMSSaint Helena, which travelled between Saint Helena andCape Town, South Africa until the opening of St Helena Airport to passenger flights.[24][25]
Ascension serves as adiversion airport forETOPS aircraft crossing the Atlantic. In January 2013, aDelta Air LinesBoeing 777-200LR en route fromJohannesburg toAtlanta diverted to Ascension as a result of engine problems.[26]
The site is home to ahigh frequency radio station forming part of theDefence High Frequency Communications Service. The station is operated byBabcock International Group on behalf of theMinistry of Defence.[27]
Potholes on the runway led to the suspension in April 2017 of all Ministry of Defence South Atlantic Air Bridge Flights betweenRAF Mount Pleasant andRAF Brize Norton until at least 2019/2020. AnAirbus A330 aircraft operated byAirTanker Services on behalf of theMinistry of Defence (United Kingdom) carried out those flights although a limited number of commercial passenger tickets were available. Those flights traveled via Dakar.[28] Planes for emergency medical evacuation flights and the newly established monthly charter flight toSaint Helena Airport were not impacted given the size of aircraft used. Essential personnel and equipment were also exempt from the suspension.[29][30] In February 2021, an RAFA400M aircraft delivered Covid-19 vaccines to the island.[31]
While A330s were unable to land at the airport until the repair reached a stage to permit the resumption of full flight operations, the United States military continued to maintain a weekly flight between the island andPatrick Space Force Base inFlorida, only for the use of its personnel, while theMVAscension supply ship regularly services US facilities.[32]
A repair project aimed at restoring service to the airport celebrated its halfway point in March 2022.[33] In August 2022, the eastern portion of the runway was completed, allowing full flight operations to resume, with a U.S. Air ForceC-17 Globemaster III of the21st Airlift Squadron being the first aircraft of that size to use the improved runway on 31 August 2022.[15] Earlier that month, an RAF A400M aircraft flying from Ascension Island was refueled for the first time by aVoyager KC.2 aircraft flying out ofRAF Mount Pleasant.[34] The repairs to the western side of the runway were fully completed in April 2023.[35][33]
Units based at Ascension Island:[36][37]
Director of Overseas Bases
Space Operations Command (SpOC)
By the end of 1956, 181 St Helenian men were employed in a temporary capacity on Ascension Island constructing the US Base. … The Base operations were eventually expanded by the addition of a Target Tracking Radar Station, which was built from 1960 - 1961. This facility, known as the Golf Ball, was built on a site overlooking the Archer Cemetery at Comfortless Cove. It meant the construction of a separate road, the Nike Zeus Road, to the area, replacing the old dirt road from the back of Long Beach. A collimation tower, complete with its own access track cutting across the old Victorian path to the sand blowhole was constructed part of the way towards English Bay, to calibrate the radar. … mid-sixties of the NASA Tracking Station at Devil's Ashpit, and the Cable & Wireless Earth Station at Donkey Plain. This station was built by Cable & Wireless and Marconi at the request of NASA
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This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
