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It is difficult to say which NATO air force bases have the most fighter jets, as some airbases have aircraft permanently assigned, while others are temporary or rotational, so the actual numbers can change significantly from one period to the next. For example, the US Air Force’s RAF Lakenheath in England is listed here as the 5th by most fighter jets, even though, as of the time of writing, most of the jets have likely been deployed to the Middle East to take part in operations against Iran.
This article will consider ‘air bases’ to include naval air stations and Marine Corps air stations, and will cover NATO territory in Europe and North America. It will not include US and other allied air bases in Japan, South Korea, and Australia, as those are not part of NATO. This list will also rank bases by aircraft assigned plus units typically based, which means that Luke Air Force Base is ranked below NAS Lemoore and NAS Oceana, even though Luke AFB likely has more jets physically at the base.
5
RAF Lakenheath
Around 100 fighter jets stationed
RAF Lakenheath is a Royal Air Force station that currently only hosts US Air Force military units. Its host wing is the 48th Fighter Wing, which operates two squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagles and two squadrons of F-35A Lightning II jets. The US Air Force says that “the 48th Fighter Wing hosts nearly 7,000 active-duty personnel. (…) As the largest U.S. fighter operation in Europe, the wing employs four combat-ready fighter squadrons of F-15 Strike Eagles and F-35A Lightning II aircraft.”
RAF Lakenheath is the only European air base to make the list of the top five NATO air bases by number of fighter jets. Its inclusion means that all five of NATO’s top air bases by fighter jet count are American. Lakenheath’s units are the 492nd Fighter Squadron operating F-15E Strike Eagles, the 493rd Fighter Squadron operating F-35A Lightning IIs, the 494th Fighter Squadron operating F-15E Strike Eagles, and the 495th Fighter Squadron operating F-35A Lightning IIs.
Lakenheath is also the only base to make the top five list with its permanently based fighter jet squadrons, with others being training bases or Navy bases hosting Super Hornets when they are not deployed on aircraft carriers. These RAF Lakenheath squadrons operate around 24 fighter jets each, giving the base a permanent fighter presence of about 100 fighter jets.
No European air force musters this many fighter jets in a single permanent air base. It is more than half the number of fighter jets in the entire Royal Air Force/Royal Navy, which operates around 110 Eurofighter Typhoons and around 47 F-35s for a total of around 157 frontline fighter jets. The French military currently has an inventory of around 95 Rafales and 91 Dassault Mirage 2000s for a total of 186 fighter jets. This includes the Rafales in service with the French Navy.
4
Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada
Up to 150 fighter jets present
Nellis Air Force Base is famous for hosting air combat exercises like Exercise Red Flag as well as close air support exercises like Green-Flag-West. While Nellis physically hosts more fighter jets at a given time than almost any other base, its numbers are exceptionally difficult to count. Unlike most other bases, it hosts operational squadrons, aggressor units, test units, and temporary exercise deployments all at the same time. This results in its aircraft numbers fluctuating much more than most other bases.
The host is the 99th Air Base Wing, of which the 57th Wing operates a squadron of around 20-24 F-35As. USAF aggressor squadrons typically operate F-16s and add another 30–40 jets, while test and evaluation units operate varying numbers of F-22 Raptors, F-35s, and F-15s. Overall, the number of aircraft permanently assigned to Nellis is around 60–100 aircraft. Numbers also vary depending on whether the ground-attack A-10 Warthog is counted as a fighter or not.
On a typical day, one could expect between ten and 30 visiting aircraft, but this can jump by around 100 fighter jets during major exercises like Red Flag. During a Red Flag exercise, there can be as many as more than 200 fighter jets at the base, although it’s more common to see 100–150 fighter jets of various descriptions at the base. For the purposes of ranking for this article, Nellis is ranked as having up to 150 fighter jets present, ignoring the highest-profile exercise surges in fighter jets.
What US Air Force Bases Have F-35s?
Ten air force bases are listed as bases for the USAF F-35A, although they can operate from many more bases.
3
Luke Air Force Base, Arizona
Up to 170 fighter jets stationed
The US Air Force’s Luke Air Force Base in Arizona is famously home to the most land-based fighter jets. The base was once the primary training base for the ubiquitous F-16 Fighting Falcon, but it has pivoted to being the primary base for F-35 training. The F-16 is the world’s most produced fourth-generation fighter jet and remains the most common fighter jet in service worldwide, with hundreds more on order for export air forces, but now the focus is on the F-35.
The US Air Force no longer purchases F-16s, and most of its leading allies are now purchasing F-35s. More F-35s were delivered in 2025 by Lockheed Martin than all other US, European, and Russian fighter jets combined. Luke Air Force Base trains around 75% of the world’s F-35 pilots, including many of the European and other allied pilots. Luke Air Force probably has more fighter jets physically present on any given day than any other NATO air force base.
The base is home to the 56th Fighter Wing and various allied detachments. In all, between 135 and 170 fighter jets can be expected to be at the base at any one time. It takes a few years for air forces to train on the new F-35, so a country like Poland and Finland may have technically received their first F-35s in 2025, but these stay at Luke Air Force Base for a few years until pilots and maintainers are trained enough to ferry the jets to their home countries and maintain and operate them effectively there.
2
NAS Lemoore
Up to 220 fighter jets stationed
The US Navy’s West Coast NAS Lemoore approaches the Navy’s East Coast NAS Oceana for the status of being the NATO base with the most fighter jets stationed. NAS Lemoore hosts 16 operational Strike Fighter squadrons and two Fleet Replacement squadrons. It says that “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.” Most of the US Navy’s fighter jets are stationed at either NAS Oceana or NAS Lemoore.
The total number of fighter jets assigned to this base is between 180 and 220, with around 70 to 100 typically physically at Lemoore. The US Navy has two NATO bases by the number of stationed fighter jets because, unlike the US Air Force, the Navy and Marine Corps deliberately centralize their tactical aviation. By contrast, the USAF spreads its fighter jets out.
This is driven by the fact that carrier aviation requires extremely specialized training, with most of the training located at NAS Fallon. The Navy deploys its aircraft by operating on carriers, and in times of crisis, they can relocate onto these carriers or operate from temporary bases if required. Whereas the Navy and Marines typically assign 100-200 fighter jets at a given base, the USAF typically assigns around 24 to 72 fighter jets per base.
The US Air Force’s 5 Major Bases In Europe & Their Strategic Roles
Discover five of the bases that ensure US air dominance over two continents.
1
NAS Oceana, Virginia
Up to 230 fighter jets stationed
The Naval Air Station with the most fighter jets based is NAS Oceana in Virginia (or NAS Lemoore in a virtual tie). The base’s website says that “NAS Oceana’s flight line, Apollo Soucek Field, is home to 17 aviation squadrons. Sixteen Squadrons consist of F/A-18 Super Hornets, which deploy on aircraft carriers into combat.” Of these, only two squadrons are permanently based there. These are all F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter squadrons, including an adversary squadron and a training squadron.
This translates to around 190 to 230 Super Hornet fighter jets based at NAS Oceana. However, while the Air Force may have all of its fighter jets home at the base at any given time, this is not normally the case for Navy fighter jets. Routinely, around two-thirds of these jets are ‘working up’ on aircraft carriers, deployed for training, or deployed to NAS Fallon in Nevada.
As most of these aircraft belong to Carrier Air Wings 1, 3, 7, and 8, they deploy on Atlantic-based aircraft carriers, meaning that there might typically only be around 60–100 fighter jets at the base at any given time. It’s worth noting that the number of fighter jets assigned to NAS Oceana is larger than most air forces in the world. Many regard the US Navy/Marine Corps as being the world’s second-largest and most powerful air force after the US Air Force.
