A Look at the Newest US Military Bases in the Country

This base was built at the site of a former airbase used to train glider crews and Army pilots during World War II and was later used as a bombing range for the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Marine Corps took over the site in 1952 as a training center. Today, the combined arms training facility trains Marines in communications and electronics.

Little Rock AFB is home to not only the largest fleet of C-130s but also numerous wings and groups of the U.S. Air Force, including the 19th Airlift Wing, which can deploy massive transport aircraft throughout the world. The base trains aircrews, including members of the Coast Guard and service members from dozens of foreign nations.

The NSB Kings Bay is the home port for the U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet’s ballistic missile nuclear subs armed with Trident nuclear missiles. The base is the home port for six Ohio-class Trident submarines, and the USS Florida and USS Georgia guided missile subs. This U.S. naval base has been operating for over five decades.

The Grand Forks AFB is home to the 319th Reconnaissance Wing, which provides operational and infrastructural support for the Global Hawk high-altitude remotely piloted surveillance aircraft. The Global Hawk is still used over Afghanistan in intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance operations following the U.S. pullout of ground forces in August 2021.

The Minot AFB is the headquarters of the 5th Bomb Wing Mission and its fleet of B-52H Stratofortress bombers, which can be deployed anywhere in the world to deliver precision nuclear-guided bombs and other types of artillery and munitions. Base units also maintain and operate the Minuteman III ICBMs located in underground launch facilities scattered across the northwest part of the state and other advanced cruise missiles.

Initially opened as an airfield in 1961, the NASM grew to become an official Naval Air Station in 1967. It is one of the U.S. Navy’s air strike fighter pilot training centers and operates a military airport for this purpose. The base also has a counterdrug training center and a support center for naval operations.

NAS Lemoore was initially established to support the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet and supports the Strike Fighter Wing Pacific that maintains combat-ready carrier- or shore-based warplanes in the Pacific Rim. Lemoore was identified as an ideal central California location because it has ideal year-round weather for aircraft deployment and less air traffic.

The Los Angeles AFB was first designated as an Air Force air station on the site of a former air research development command center dating back to 1954. It was re-designated as an Air Force base in 1987. The base includes Fort MacArthur, 20 miles south of the main base. The base supports U.S. Space Force operations.

NSA Saratoga Springs supports naval command activities in New York’s Capital Region in upstate New York. The base supports the nearby Naval Propulsion Training Unit in Ballston Spa, New York, one of two facilities used to train officers in the design, operation, and maintenance of nuclear propulsion systems used by submarines and aircraft carriers.

Though the U.S. Space Force was established in 2019 as the eighth and most recent U.S. military branch, the Schriever Space Force Base was always intended to be part of military space programs dating back to the 1970s when the Department of Defense sought to consolidate operations involving military satellites. The name of the base was changed in 2021 to reflect its realigned affiliation from the Air Force to the new Space Force.

Naval Station Everett was selected as an ideal location on the West Coast for homeporting a naval battle group. The base is the home port of seven guided missile destroyers, including the USS John McCain, and two Coast Guard ships patrolling the Northwest coast and tending to navigational buoys. This naval installation is considered the Navy’s most modern facility.