Two air forces have completed military runway resurfacing projects. Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota reopened its runway Oct. 28 after a $20.4 million job, and RAF Marham in Norfolk, England, finished a £3.5 million repair three weeks early.
When work began at Grand Forks in May, Lt. Col. Eugene Bently joked about the old surface. Bently, who leads the 319th Civil Engineer Squadron, said in an Air Combat Command article: “Various key leaders may even have small chunks of our degraded runway sitting on their desk.”
Federal aviation guidance treats crumbling pavement as a source of foreign object debris, or FOD, which engines can ingest. Neither base’s announcement reported a FOD incident or engine damage linked to the old surfaces.
Grand Forks replaces a 2005 runway surface
At Grand Forks, crews milled off the top 4 inches of old asphalt and laid a new overlay, according to Air Combat Command. The work replaced 10,270 feet of runway surface first installed in 2005.
That surface had an original life expectancy of 7-10 years, the Grand Forks Herald reported. The new runway is expected to last 20 years or more.
“The runway is about ten years past the recommended period of renovation, and we are excited to see the hard work of our civil engineers, contracting personnel and operations support personnel all come together,” Bently said in May.
The 319th Reconnaissance Wing moved its RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 40 fleet to Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, in early April. Airmen with the 348th Reconnaissance Squadron kept flying the drones remotely from Grand Forks AFB.
Construction wrapped up in September, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 28 marked the return of the Global Hawks, the Herald reported. Base officials told the paper the project also updated the runway’s markings. They now line up more closely with civilian airports and with military guidance.
“Getting this project done quickly needed to happen,” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., who sits on the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee.
“The runway is the heart of an airbase, so this was the perfect opportunity to advance the current mission and its unlimited potential,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.
RAF Marham finishes intersection repairs three weeks early
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation said Oct. 7 that the project at the home of the UK’s F-35B Lightning force covered 28,000 square meters of the runway intersection. That area was last resurfaced in 2018. Crews also resurfaced a further 675 square meters on Runway 05.
The work also dealt with damage below the surface. Just over 4,000 square meters of underlying pavement needed repair before the new top layer went down.
Because the repairs were at the intersection, all runways were unavailable. To keep Lightning Force operations going, a taxiway was used instead.
Including preparatory work, the project took five weeks, three weeks ahead of the original eight-week program. An alternative approach that removed the need for an on-site concrete batching plant saved £3.8 million, the DIO said.
“This has reduced the need for future intervention and helped ensure the airfield can continue to support Lightning Force operations,” said Tim Fenton, the DIO’s project delivery manager.
Flight Lt. Steve Southward, an RAF Central Region (South) desk officer, explained the choice to fix the deeper pavement in the same job: “By doing so while contractors were already mobilised, the team reduced future maintenance liabilities, avoided the cost and disruption of a separate project, and enhanced the resilience of critical airfield infrastructure that underpins Defence output and operational capability.”
Why worn pavement makes military runway resurfacing a FOD issue
A Federal Aviation Administration advisory circular on airport FOD management was written for civil airports. It says debris can cut tires, get sucked into engines or jam parts that affect flight. It states: “Asphalt and concrete pavements may be the most common source of FOD on an airport.”
The circular says deteriorating or neglected pavement can show spalling or cracks, and pieces can break loose. Freeze-thaw cycles can make aging pavement crack or break apart, so FOD may be more common in winter.
It adds that departing aircraft are most vulnerable to FOD damage on the part of the runway used for takeoff.
Other recent pavement work includes Air Force RED HORSE engineers repairing crumbling asphalt at an airport in Ceiba, Puerto Rico. In Germany, Frankfurt Airport resurfaced its central runway in 16 days.
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Sources
- Grand Forks Herald — “Grand Forks Air Force Base unveils new runway with ribbon-cutting ceremony” (Oct. 28, 2026)
- Air Combat Command — “Grand Forks AFB begins runway resurfacing project” (May 8, 2026)
- GOV.UK, Defence Infrastructure Organisation — “RAF Marham runway repairs strengthen operational resilience” (Oct. 7, 2026)
- Royal Air Force — “RAF Marham” (station page)
- Federal Aviation Administration — “AC 150/5210-24, Airport Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Management” (Sept. 30, 2010)
