Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson
 
Part of Pacific Air Forces (PACAF)
United States Army Alaska
Located in: Anchorage, Alaska

F-22 Raptors of the 3rd Wing at Elmendorf-Richardson

JB Elmendorf-Richardson
Coordinates 61°15′05″N 149°48′23″W / 61.25139°N 149.80639°W / 61.25139; -149.80639 (JB Elmendorf-Richardson)
Site information
Controlled by  United States Air Force
Site history
Built 1940
In use 2010–present
Garrison information
Garrison  673d Air Base Wing
Airfield information
IATA: EDF – ICAO: PAED – FAA LID: EDF
Summary
Elevation AMSL 212 ft / 65 m
Website www.jber.af.mil
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
6/24 10,000 3,048 Asphalt
16/34 7,505 2,288 Asphalt
Sources: FAA,[1] official site[2]

Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson (IATA: EDF, ICAO: PAED, FAA LID: EDF), or J-Bear as it is known to most military members, is a United States military facility in Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska. It is an amalgamation of the United States Air Force's Elmendorf Air Force Base and the United States Army's Fort Richardson, which were merged in 2010.

Overview

The adjacent facilities were officially combined by the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Commission. Its mission is to support and defend U.S. interests in the Asia Pacific region and around the world by providing units who are ready for worldwide air power projection and a base that is capable of meeting PACOM's theater staging and throughput requirements.

It is the home of the Headquarters, Alaskan Command (ALCOM), Alaskan NORAD Region (ANR), Joint Task Force-Alaska (JTF-AK), Eleventh Air Force (11 AF), the 673d Air Base Wing, the 3rd Wing, the 176th Wing and other Tenant Units.

Units

Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson (JBER), holds the distinction of being one of 12 Joint Bases that were created in BRAC 2005. The 673d ABW consists of four groups that operate and maintain the joint base for air sovereignty, combat training, force staging and throughput operations in support of worldwide contingencies.

The installation hosts the headquarters for the United States Alaskan Command, 11th Air Force, U.S. Army Alaska, and the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region.

Major units assigned are:

Activated on 30 July 2010 as the host wing combining installation management functions of Elmendorf AFB's 3rd Wing and U.S. Army Garrison Fort Richardson. The 673d ABW comprises over 5,500 joint military and civilian personnel, supporting America's Arctic Warriors and their families. The wing supports and enables three AF total-force wings, two Army Brigades and 55 other tenant units. In addition, the wing provides medical care to over 35,000 joint service members, dependents, VA patients and retirees throughout Alaska. The 673d ABW maintains an $11.4B infrastructure encompassing 84,000 acres.
Responsible for maximizing theater force readiness for 21,000 Alaskan service members and expediting worldwide contingency force deployments from and through Alaska as directed by the Commander, USPACOM
U.S. Army Alaska executes continuous training and readiness oversight responsibilities for Army Force Generation in Alaska. Supports U.S. Pacific Command Theater Security Cooperation Program. On order, executes Joint Force Land Component Command functions in support of Homeland Defense and Security in Alaska.
To support and defend US interests in the Asia Pacific region and around the world by providing units who are ready for worldwide air power projection and a base that is capable of meeting PACOM's theater staging and throughput requirements.
The Alaskan NORAD Region (ANR) conducts aerospace control within its area of operations and contributes to NORAD's aerospace warning mission.
Provide ready warriors and infrastructure for homeland defense, decisive force projection, and aerospace command and control

Major Commands to which assigned

Base operating units

Major units assigned

Notable aviation accidents

On 28 July 2010, a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft practicing for an upcoming airshow crashed into a wooded area within the base, killing all four air crew members; three from the Alaska Air National Guard and one from the USAF.[3][4] The cause of the accident has been reported to be pilot error. The pilot performed an aggressive righthand turn and ignored the aircraft's stall warning, continuing the turn until the aircraft stalled due to lack of airspeed. The low altitude of the turn made it impossible for the crew to recover from the stall in time to avoid impacting the ground. The C-17 crashed just 100 yards from the site of the 1995 E-3 AWACS crash.[5]

On 16 November 2010, a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor took off for a training mission. At approximately 1900 hours, the base reported that the aircraft was overdue and missing. Air Force rescue teams were reported to be concentrating their search for the missing plane and pilot in Denali National Park. The F-22's crash site was found about 100 miles north of Anchorage near the town of Cantwell, Alaska. The pilot, of the US Air Force's 525th Fighter Squadron, was killed in the crash.[6]

See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

  1. ↑ FAA Airport Master Record for EDF (Form 5010 PDF), retrieved 2007-03-15
  2. ↑  This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "Elmendorf Air Force Base".
  3. ↑ "Four Dead in Alaska Air Force Base Crash". cbsnews.com. 29 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  4. ↑ "Military plane crashes on training mission in Alaska, killing 4 airmen". cnn.com. 29 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  5. ↑ D'Oro, Rachel (December 13, 2010). "Pilot error blamed in July C-17 crash". Anchorage Daily News. Archived from the original on December 13, 2010. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
  6. ↑ "Alaska Military Base Searching for Overdue F-22". cbsnews.com. 17 November 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-17.
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