Work under way to overhaul RAF's largest base

A £180m revamp of the RAF's largest base is under way.

RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire is undergoing "essential" resurfacing and improvement works that the base said would ensure it remained "fully operational and fit" in the long-term.

Works include replacing the 3km (1.9 mile) runway, refurbing taxiways, upgrading the airfield lighting systems, and improving drainage.

The site is home to about 5,800 service personnel and the RAF's Air Mobility Force.

The overhaul is part of the government's recently published defence investment plan.

Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard called the base the "backbone of UK air mobility".

"This £180m upgrade programme ensures it stays that way," he said.

"Replacing the runway, upgrading critical systems and future-proofing the airfield is the long-term investment defence requires – which will create jobs and opportunities for the local community."

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), which is delivering the project alongside the RAF, said it would create 20 jobs, five apprenticeships, and work experience opportunities in the local area.

It said about 350,000 tonnes of material would be used during construction, the "same weight as 29,000 double-decker buses".

John Crennell, deputy head of air infrastructure major programmes, described it as a "critical programme to renew and modernise the infrastructure that underpins operations".

He said there was a planned runway closure later in the year, but that operations would "continue seamlessly from across the UK".

He added: "Once complete, the upgraded airfield will provide a safer, more resilient platform to support defence activity at home and overseas."

DIO principal project manager Bob Noyes said it was a "landmark investment in one of the RAF's most critical assets".

"Renewing the airfield at Brize Norton is essential to maintaining the capability of the UK's busiest military air base, and we're proud to be delivering it in a way that also invests in the local community," he said.

The air force has stressed that the UK's air military capability would not be "diminished" by the works, with its teams "maintaining full operational tempo throughout".

It said the Atlas and Globemaster fleets stationed at Brize would operate out of the Ministry of Defence's Boscombe Down site in Wiltshire during the project.

They will also occasionally use Bournemouth Airport, in Dorset.

Meanwhile, the A330 Voyager fleet will fly out of Prestwick, East Midlands and Stansted airports.

The aircraft are all expected to return to Brize Norton in November, once the resurfacing work is complete.