These are the largest air force bases in the world
March 28, 2026
There are multiple ways to measure the world’s largest air force bases. Airbases can be ranked by the number of aircraft stationed, the number of personnel, and the land area assigned to the airbase. There are issues with each of these methods, and this article will discuss a few of them.
The United States dominates the list
The United States Air Force is the largest air force in the world, with around 4,000 non-trainer and non-UAV aircraft. This article will also include the US Navy/Marine Corps, which adds another 3,300 aircraft. It will exclude the US Army and its massive fleet of helicopters.
In all, according to FlightGlobal, the US armed forces operate around 13,033 military aircraft, far more than the estimated 4,237 for Russia, 3,529 for China, and 2,183 for India.
The US tends to dominate the list of the largest air force bases. Not only does the US tend to bunch more aircraft together than most air forces, but it also tends to build larger air bases.
When considering aircraft, not all aircraft are created equal; a Lockheed C-5M Super Hercules does not equal a T-38 Talon trainer. Additionally, numbers fluctuate with deployments, etc.
The Davis-Monthan boneyard
All of the fixed-wing retired US military aircraft, including those from the Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard, are stored at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. In total, almost 4,000 airframes are found there.
Aircraft here are catalogued and kept ready to return to active service, can be cannibalized for parts, or something in between.
One reason why it is appropriate to list Davis-Monthan is that many other lists will count stored aircraft at foreign air force bases, especially poorly funded air force bases like those of Russia and North Korea.
Candidates for the largest airbase accolade:
- Most airframes stored: Davis-Monthan AFB, with almost 4,000
- Most active fighter jets: Up to around 200 (NAS Lemore, NAS Ocean, Luke AFB, Nellis AFB)
- Most active duty Air Force personnel: Possibly Lackland AFB (Joint Base San Antonio) at around 24,000
- Largest by land area: Nellis Air Force Base Complex at 5,000 square miles (including Test and Training Range)
- Most runways: 13 at Edwards AFB (inc. unpaved)
The US clearly lists all the aircraft it has in active service, and it neatly stores those it doesn’t want to keep active at the boneyard. Most other countries don’t do that.
Those counting Russian military aircraft at its air forces bases are likely to count both active airframes and stored or cannibalized aircraft. Most air forces do not have a neat boneyard to store all the non-active airframes.
Russia’s military aircraft numbers are inflated by stored and cannibalized aircraft counted on satellite imagery by open source accounts, like at Russia’s Lipetsk Air Force Base. North Korea’s air force resembles more of a museum than a functional modern air force.
There has been a very interesting increase in the number of decommissioned aircraft stored at the Lipetsk AB. On 7 June 2022 on the sorage ramp total of 57x MiG-29, 25x MiG-31, 2x Su-24, 3x Su-25 and 7x Su-27 were observed. pic.twitter.com/LTaXlGE2F1
— The Military Watch (@MarcinRogowsk14) February 16, 2026
According to AMARC Experience, Davis-Monthan hosts 94 B-52s, 128 KC-135s, 208 A-10 Warthogs, 350 F-16 Fighting Falcons, 315 C-130 Hercules, 57 C-5A Galaxies, 191 P-3 Orions, 295 F-15 Eagles, 197 F/A-18 Hornets, and many others.
Get the latest aerospace defence news here on AGN.
Air bases with the most fighter jets stationed
If the criterion is the base with the most active fighter jets stationed, then the winner would likely be either NAS Lemoore, NAS Oceana, Nellis Air Force Base, or Luke Air Force Base.
The US Navy’s Naval Air Stations Lemoore and Oceana host more or less all of the Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornets when they are not deployed on aircraft carriers or in NAS Fallon for training.
NAS Lemoore’s website says, “more than half of the Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft reside here, and it is the only Navy installation to house the F-35C Lightning II.”
Lemoore hosts 16 operational Strike Fighter squadrons as well as a couple of Fleet Replacement squadrons. Oceana hosts 16 Super Hornet squadrons. This translates to around 180 to 230 Super Hornets for Lemoore and Oceana each.
However, most of the jets are not typically physically at the base, with between 60 and 100 likely to be there at any given time. Many will be deployed on the aircraft carriers or somewhere else.
The US Air Force’s Luke Air Force Base is probably the base where the most fighter jets are physically present at any given time.
Luke is the primary training base for the F-35 and F-16, including foreign air forces training on the F-35. It is typical for the base to have between 135 and 170 fighter jets present at any time.
Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada is a major advanced training air base, and its population of fighters surges during exercises, like the famous Exercise Red Flag. Aircraft typically at the base number between 60 and 100, but at peak surges, this can swell to more than 200 fighter jets.
Airbases with the most stationed personnel
It is difficult to list air bases by personnel due to inconsistency in counting active duty personnel, active duty personnel from other departments (e.g., Navy, Army), civilian contractors, the relatives of active duty personnel on the base, etc.
That said, some of the US Air Force bases with the greatest stationed active duty personnel are Joint Base San Antonio in Texas, Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, and Travis Air Force Base in California.
According to the Texas Government, Lackland Air Force Base at Joint Base San Antonio has an active duty Air Force population of around 24,000. This likely makes it the largest by the number of active duty Air Force personnel.
The US’s Ramstein Air Base in Germany is often considered to be the largest foreign US Air Force base, even though it doesn’t have any fighter jet squadrons permanently stationed there.
For the Navy, the top Naval Aviation Stations by active duty personnel include Naval Air Station Pensacola, Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Naval Air Station North Island, and Naval Air Station Lemoore.
In the UK, the airbase with the greatest active duty personnel is likely the US Air Force’s RAF Lakenheath with around 7,000 personnel, while RAF Brize Norton is likely the largest by Royal Air Force population with around 5,800 service personnel.
No European airbase (operated by a European air force) approaches the population size of the US Air Force and Navy’s largest.
When it comes to Russian, Chinese, and Indian airbases, information is opaque.
Largest air force bases by land area
Again, the list of the largest air force bases by land area is dominated by the US Air Force, especially when the military target ranges are taken into account.
Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Base Complex can be considered the largest, with an area of 5,000 square miles, followed by Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range at around 3,000 square miles (estimates vary).
Hill Air Force Base in Utah is also massive at around 2,657 square miles. As an honourable mention, Andersen Air Force Base on Guam is the largest USAF base outside of the mainland at 33 square miles.
If the US Space Force’s Pituffik Space Base in Greenland (formerly Thule Air Force Base) is considered, it covers around 364 square miles (depending on estimates). It was transferred from the Air Force to the Space Force in 2020 and is now only home to 150 personnel.
Military aircraft will arrive at a US base in Greenland — North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) January 20, 2026
At Pituffik Space Base, they will support pre-planned activities as part of defence cooperation between the United States, Canada, and Greenland.
The actions have been… pic.twitter.com/NZIExd0TWz
There are other ways to evaluate base size. For example, while Edwards Air Force Base has three paved runways, it has up to 13 when dry lakebed runways are added.
Featured Image: DVIDS
