Nellis Air Force Base - Major Off-base and Detached Installations

Major Off-base and Detached Installations

• Nellis Area I

Area I consists of industrial and administration facilities, two runways with ramp space for up to 300 aircraft, recreation and shopping facilities, single housing and some family housing.

• Nellis Area II

Area II is located at the northeast edge of the main base. It is home to the 820th RED HORSE Squadron, 896th Munitions Squadron and the largest aboveground weapons storage complex in the United States. When atomic testing was occurring at the Nevada test Site, Area 2 was used for the storage of the weapons.

• Nellis Area III

Area III is located west of the main base. More family housing, administration and industrial areas are located here, as well as the Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital.

• Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR)

Operated by the 98th Range Wing (RANW), the NTTR is the largest contiguous air and ground space available for peacetime military operations in North America. The range occupies 2.9 million acres (12,000 km2) of land and 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2) of airspace, which is restricted from civilian air traffic over-flight and another 7,000 square miles (18,000 km2) of Military Operating Area, or MOA, which is shared with civilian aircraft. The 12,000-square-nautical mile range provides a realistic arena for operational testing and training aircrews to improve combat readiness. A wide variety of live munitions can be employed on targets on the range.

• Nevada Test Site (NTS)

Operated by the Department of Energy, the NTS is located approximately 65 miles (105 km) northwest of Las Vegas with support and administrative headquarters at Mercury, Nev. The installation is operated by the DOE, Nevada Operations Office in North Las Vegas, which is charged with the management of all the nation's nuclear weapon programs.

The NTS covers approximately 1,350 square miles (3,500 km2). It includes Yucca and Frenchman Flats, Paiute and Rainer Mesas and the former Camp Desert Rock area, which was used by the Sixth Army in the 1950s to house troops participating in atmospheric tests at the test site. Yucca Flat, a valley roughly 10 miles (16 km) wide by 20 miles (32 km) long, and Paiute Mesa, a rugged 7,500-foot (2,300 m)-high area of 166 square miles (430 km2) at the northwest corner of the site, were the main underground test areas.

Frenchman Flat is the first dry lake basin north of the hills beyond Mercury. It was used for all blasts in the Nevada test series in 1951, but since then has been used prime.

• Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field (1942–2005)

The 57th Combat Support Squadron performed range maintenance for the Nevada Test and Training Range. Now Creech Air Force Base.