Coastal flooding, temperature extremes, and storm damage could significantly disrupt the availability of facilities supporting the F-35 weapon system over the next 30 years, according to a joint analysis by LMI and The Climate Service (TCS).

“One year ago, our LMI-TCS team set out to assess physical climate risks to the F-35’s global support system with unprecedented granularity,” said Audra Upchurch, director of LMI’s infrastructure, energy, and environment practice. “While risks like flooding and storm damage are unsurprising, we accounted for the unique vulnerabilities of each facility’s assets and their criticality to mission success. We’re excited to deliver actionable insights to inform  master planning decisions and infrastructure improvements.”  

Using TCS’ Climanomics^® risk analytics platform, LMI examined five military installations that support the F-35: Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) in western Florida; Hill AFB in northern Utah; Luke AFB near Glendale, AZ; Joint Base Langley–Eustis in Hampton, VA; and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni near Yamaguchi, Japan. The installations house 34 mission-critical facilities, such as control towers, flight simulators, fueling infrastructure, and maintenance depots. The effort marked the first use of Climanomics^® to assess physical climate risks to government property.

“LMI and TCS have developed a scalable, repeatable, and defensible approach to understanding the effect of long-term climate risk and integrating it across Department of Defense (DoD) programs consistently. The successful implementation of Climanomics^® to analyze the F-35 is a promising first step,” said LMI sustainability senior consultant Kelli Canada. “Climanomics^® pairs climate-related hazard data with econometric models, enabling us to articulate risks in a mission-centric context that was not previously possible.”