RAF Mount Pleasant – Falkland Islands
Download PDFRAF Mount Pleasant is a strategically critical military airfield in the South Atlantic, supporting both defence and civilian operations. Its remote location and harsh environmental conditions demand a proactive, large-scale approach to asphalt pavement preservation.
Two major airfield RHiNOPHALT® preservation contracts were delivered at the site, in 2023 and 2026, forming part of a long-term asset management strategy focused on extending pavement life while maintaining full operational capability.
Large-Scale Airfield Preservation in One of the World's Most Remote Locations
The Airfield
RAF Mount Pleasant is one of the most remote operational airfields in the world, located in the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. As a strategically critical military airbase, it supports both defence and civilian aviation, making continuous runway availability and surface integrity essential.
Its position brings a demanding operating environment: a cold, wet climate, unpredictable weather, and a location thousands of miles from the nearest source of specialist materials and equipment. These conditions make a proactive, preservation-led approach to pavement management far more practical and cost-effective than conventional resurfacing.
The Challenge
Delivering asphalt preservation at this scale, in this location, required overcoming significant logistical and environmental constraints:
- One of the most remote airfields in the world, requiring mobilisation of specialist equipment and materials over 8,000 miles
- Unpredictable weather conditions, limiting working windows
- A cold, wet climate impacting application performance
- The need to operate within a live military airbase with no disruption to flight operations
- The requirement to treat exceptionally large surface areas efficiently within a tight timeframe
The Solution
In 2023, a major asphalt preservation programme was delivered at RAF Mount Pleasant, applying RHiNOPHALT® across over 200,000m² of operational airfield surfaces. The works covered the main runway, secondary runway, asphalt taxiways and aircraft dispersals — a full network-level treatment of critical infrastructure.
Delivered within a live military environment, the programme required precise coordination and high-output application methods to treat extensive areas efficiently within limited working windows. RHiNOPHALT®, combined with RHiNODUST® fine aggregate (<1.0mm) locked into the treated surface, ensured no reduction in surface friction during application. RHiNODUST® promotes the controlled abrasion of the binder film from the surface aggregate, helping to restore friction levels, while RHiNOPHALT® delivers long-term pavement protection with no adverse effect on surface macrotexture.
Minimising disruption
Despite the scale of the works, airfield operations remained unaffected. All activities were carefully phased and coordinated with air traffic schedules, and works were undertaken in restricted operational windows, often overnight. Treated surfaces were returned to service ready for immediate operational use, high-output application methods enabled large areas to be completed rapidly, and line markings were refreshed within the same shift patterns. This ensured zero disruption to critical military and logistical operations.
Friction recovery
Maintaining surface performance and safety was a key outcome. RHiNOPHALT® penetrated the asphalt surface course without affecting the grooved Marshall asphalt macrotexture, and the application of RHiNODUST® fine aggregate ensured there was no loss of surface friction immediately after treatment. The sealing and waterproofing effect of RHiNOPHALT® prevented water ingress while allowing surface water to drain effectively via the existing crossfalls, maintaining safe operating conditions in wet weather.
Second Preservation Treatment
Building on the success of the initial works, a second large-scale contract was undertaken in 2026, applying RHiNOPHALT® across a further 220,000m² of airfield pavement. This phase focused on two runways and the wider taxiway network, reinforcing a long-term asset management strategy centred on preservation rather than replacement.
The programme benefited from continuity of the original site management team, whose prior experience and lessons learned enabled a more efficient delivery, with the works completed in almost half the time required in 2023. The scale of the project once again demonstrated the ability to deliver high-volume treatments in a remote, operationally constrained environment, while maintaining consistent quality and performance across extensive surface areas.
Extended Pavement Life and Sustainability Outcomes
The use of RHiNOPHALT® at RAF Mount Pleasant focuses on preserving and extending the life of existing asphalt rather than replacing it. As a penetrative asphalt preservative, RHiNOPHALT® seals and waterproofs the surface, slows binder oxidation, and enables pavements to perform beyond their original design life — significantly delaying the need for major resurfacing while maintaining airfield performance.
In a remote location such as the Falkland Islands, this approach avoids the need to import tens of thousands of tonnes of high-quality aggregate and hundreds of tonnes of polymer-modified bitumen required for traditional reconstruction. Applied at ambient temperatures, RHiNOPHALT® requires significantly less energy, plant and resource, while generating no waste and reducing reliance on carbon-intensive processes such as quarrying, manufacturing and long-distance transportation.
Delivering preservation across airfield pavements at this scale generated significant environmental benefits compared to conventional resurfacing, including over 95% reduction in CO₂ emissions versus surface course replacement, alongside substantial reductions in the consumption of bitumen and high-specification aggregates, energy-intensive material production, long-distance transport of materials to a remote location, and reliance on heavy plant and associated fuel.
Applied across more than 420,000m² of operational airfield surfaces, these efficiencies translate into meaningful, measurable carbon savings — demonstrating the environmental advantage of a preservation-led approach to managing airside assets, and supporting a whole-life asset management strategy in which repeated preservation treatments sustain performance over extended periods.
Key Benefits
Substantial financial, operational, and environmental benefits were achieved through improved asset management using RHiNOPHALT®:
- Over 420,000 m² of airfield pavements successfully treated across two contracts
- Demonstrated ability to deliver large-scale works within remote and operationally constrained airfield environments
- No disruption to live airfield operations, maintaining full operational availability throughout
- Significant carbon reduction achieved by prioritising preservation over replacement
- A proven, scalable approach for managing airfield pavement assets, aligned with sustainability and operational performance objectives
