Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake

Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake
Armitage Field
Ridgecrest, California in United States
An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to VX-9 returns to its home at NAWS China Lake
NAWS China Lake Location in the United States Show map of the United States NAWS China Lake NAWS China Lake (California) Show map of California
Coordinates	35°41′08″N 117°41′31″W / 35.68556°N 117.69194°W / 35.68556; -117.69194
Type	Naval Air Weapons Station
Area	1.1 million acres (450,000 hectares) (including ranges)
Site information
Owner	Department of Defense
Operator	US Navy
Controlled by	Navy Region Southwest
Condition	Operational
Website	Official website
Site history
Built	1935 (1935) (civilian use)
In use	1942 – present
Events	2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes
Garrison information
Current commander	Captain Warren ‘Rabbit’ Van Allen
Airfield information
Identifiers	ICAO: KNID, FAA LID: NID, WMO: 746120
Elevation	696.1 metres (2,284 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 03/21 3,048.3 metres (10,001 ft) Concrete 14/32 2,747.1 metres (9,013 ft) Asphalt 08/26 2,167.4 metres (7,111 ft) Concrete
Other airfield facilities	1x VTOL pad
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake^[2] is a large military installation in California that supports the research, testing and evaluation programs of the United States Navy. It is part of Navy Region Southwest^[3] under Commander, Navy Installations Command, and was originally known as Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS).^[4]

The installation is located in the Western Mojave Desert region of California, approximately 150 miles (240 km) north of Los Angeles. Occupying land in three counties – Kern, San Bernardino, and Inyo – the installation's closest neighbors are the city of Ridgecrest and the communities of Inyokern, Trona, and Darwin.

China Lake is the United States Navy's largest single landholding, representing 85% of the Navy's land for weapons and armaments research, development, acquisition, testing, and evaluation (RDAT&E) use and 38% of the Navy's land holdings worldwide. In total, its two ranges and main site cover more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km²), an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. As of 2010, at least 95% of that land is undeveloped. The roughly $3 billion infrastructure of the installation consists of 2,132 buildings and facilities, 329 miles (529 km) of paved roads, and 1,801 miles (2,898 km) of unpaved roads.

The 19,600 square miles (51,000 km²) of restricted and controlled airspace at China Lake makes up 12% of California's total airspace. Jointly controlled by NAWS China Lake, Edwards Air Force Base and Fort Irwin, this airspace is known as the R-2508 Special Use Airspace Complex.

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake on July 5, 2019, whose epicenter was within the boundaries of NAWS China Lake, resulted in the facility being temporarily evaluated as "not mission capable" due to damage.^[5]