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An airbase [1] [2] (stylised air base in American English), sometimes referred to as a military airbase, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base, is an aerodrome or airport used as a military base by a military force for the operation of military aircraft.
An airbase typically has some facilities similar to a civilian airport; for example, air traffic control and firefighting. Some military aerodromes have passenger facilities; for example, RAF Brize Norton in England has a terminal used by passengers for the Royal Air Force's passenger transport flights. A number of military airbases may also have a civil enclave for commercial passenger flights, e.g. Beijing Nanyuan Airport (China), Chandigarh Airport (India), Ibaraki Airport (Japan), Burlington International Airport (USA), Sheikh Ul-Alam International Airport Srinagar (India), Taipei Songshan Airport (Taiwan), Eindhoven airport (The Netherlands). Likewise, the opposite also occurs; large civilian airports may contain a smaller military airbase within their environs, such as Royal Brunei Air Force Base, Rimba (located within Brunei International Airport).
Some airbases have dispersed aircraft parking, revetments, hardened aircraft shelters, or even underground hangars, to protect aircraft from enemy attack. Combat aircraft require secure protected storage of aircraft ordnance and munitions. Other facilities may also include technical buildings for servicing and support of survival equipment (including flying helmets and personal liquid oxygen), flight simulator for synthetic training, servicing facilities for all aircraft systems (airframes, propulsion, avionics, weapons systems) [3] and associated ground support systems (including mechanical transport). All military airbases will have buildings for military administration (station headquarters, squadron briefing and operations), and larger bases will also include medical and dental facilities for military personnel (and sometimes their dependents), along with dining (mess, informally known as the 'cook house'), accommodation (single living accommodation for junior ranks, Sergeants' and Officers' Mess for senior non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers), recreational facilities (club house for socialising), shopping facilities (NAAFI shops, base exchange, commissary), and sports facilities (gymnasium, swimming pool, sports pitches). An airbase may be defended by anti-aircraft weapons and force protection troops.
A dispersal (or dispersed) airbase is an airfield that is used for the purpose of dispersing air units in the event of conflict, so to minimise the vulnerability of aircraft and its supporting units whilst on the ground. [4] Dispersal airbases are not necessarily ordinarily operational in peace time, and may only be activated when needed. Airfields used as dispersal bases can either be auxiliary military airfields, civilian airports, or highway strips. Examples of uses of dispersal bases are the Swedish Bas 60 and Bas 90 systems, the British V-Bomber dispersal bases, and NATO's Dispersed Operating Bases in France.
Road airbases are highways constructed to double as auxiliary airbases in the event of war. Countries known to utilise this strategy are India, [6] Sweden, [7] Finland, Germany (formerly), [5] Singapore, Switzerland, [8] South Korea, Turkey, Poland, Pakistan, and the Czech Republic. In the case of Finnish road airbases, the space needed for landing aircraft is reduced by means of an arrestor wire, similar to that used on some aircraft carriers (Finnish Air Force uses F/A-18s, which were originally designed to land on aircraft carriers). [9]
An aircraft carrier is a type of naval ship which serves as a seaborne airbase, the development of which has greatly enhanced the capabilities of modern air forces and naval aviation. In many countries, they are now a key part of the military, allowing for their military aircraft to be staged much nearer the area of conflict. Aircraft carriers were vital to the United States during World War II, Korea and the Vietnam War, and to the United Kingdom in the 1982 Falklands War. They retain modern roles as well as "several acres of sovereign territory a nation can move about at will",[ citation needed ] which allows greater flexibility in diplomacy as well as military affairs. Aircraft carriers may also used in disaster relief.
Royal Air Force Machrihanish or RAF Machrihanish is a former Royal Air Force station located near the town of Machrihanish and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of Campbeltown, at the tip of the Kintyre peninsula, Argyll and Bute, in Scotland.
An aerodrome is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes include small general aviation airfields, large commercial airports, and military air bases.
A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a command center, training ground or proving ground. In most cases, military bases rely on outside help to operate. However, certain complex bases are able to endure on their own for long periods because they are able to provide food, drinking water, and other necessities for their inhabitants while under siege. Bases for military aviation are called air bases. Bases for military ships are called naval bases.
Royal Air Force Gibraltar or more simply RAF Gibraltar is a Royal Air Force station on Gibraltar. No military aircraft are currently stationed there, but RAF and aircraft of other NATO nations will periodically arrive for transient stopovers, exercises, or other temporary duty. Administered by British Forces Gibraltar, the station is a joint civil-military facility that also functions as the Rock's civilian airport – Gibraltar Airport, with the civilian airport's passenger terminal building and apron facilities located on the north side of the runway while the apron and hangar of RAF Gibraltar are located on the south side of the runway.
A naval air station is a military air base, and consists of a permanent land-based operations locations for the military aviation division of the relevant branch of a navy. These bases are typically populated by squadrons, groups or wings, their various support commands, and other tenant commands.
Canadian Forces Station Ladner is a former military airfield and communications station located beside Boundary Bay and 2.5 nautical miles east of Ladner in Delta, British Columbia, Canada, south of Vancouver and close to the U.S. border. After its closure it was reopened as Boundary Bay Airport.
Canadian Forces Base Comox, commonly referred to as CFB Comox or 19 Wing, is a Canadian Forces Base located 2.5 nautical miles north northeast of Comox, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It is primarily operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and is one of two bases in the country using the CP-140 Aurora anti-submarine/maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft. Its primary RCAF lodger unit is 19 Wing, commonly referred to as 19 Wing Comox.
HMAS Albatross is the main naval air station for the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN) aviation branch, the Fleet Air Arm. The base, located near Nowra, New South Wales, was formally established in May 1942 as Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base RAAF Nowra, then was transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Nabbington in 1944, and operated as a naval air station until it was decommissioned in late 1945. In 1948, the airfield was commissioned into the RAN as HMAS Albatross, as the primary shore base for the Fleet Air Arm. Since 2011, five squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm operate from Albatross. The current commander of the base is Captain Robyn Phillips, RAN.
A joint-use airport is an aerodrome that is used for both military aviation and civil aviation. They typically contain facilities of both a civil airport and a military air base.
Canadian Forces Base Gander, is a Canadian Forces base located in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force and is home to search and rescue operations that cover a vast swath of the western North Atlantic and southern Arctic and a Canadian Coastal Radar station amongst other things. It is home to 9 Wing Gander.
Canadian Forces Base St. Hubert was a Canadian Forces Base in the city of Saint-Hubert, Quebec. The base began as a civilian airfield in the 1920s and was later also used by RCAF auxiliary (reserve) squadrons, beginning in the mid-1930s. It became a fully-fledged RCAF station early in World War II, being extensively used for training as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. After the war, it grew into one of the most important air bases in Canada, and remained so for decades.
Dispersal is a military practice of dispersing or spreading out potentially vulnerable military assets, such as soldiers, aircraft, ships, tanks, weapons, vehicles, and similar equipment of an army, navy, or air force. Its primary objective is to minimise any potential effects of collateral damage, from incoming munitions such as artillery, bombs and missiles. Dispersal increases the number of artillery rounds needed to neutralise or destroy a military unit in proportion to the dispersal of the said unit. If a division doubles the area it takes up, it will double the number of artillery rounds needed to do the same damage to it. As more targets are spread out or dispersed, more artillery and / or bombs are required to hit all the individual targets.
Frans Kaisiepo Airport is an airport on Biak island, in Papua, Indonesia. It is also known as Mokmer Airport. The airport is named after Frans Kaisiepo (1921–1979), the fourth Governor of Papua. The airport has seven aircraft parking slots, of which two are capable of handling wide-body aircraft, and a small terminal without jet bridges. The airport's only runway is 3,571m long, designated as 11/29.
Royal Naval Air Station Hatston, was a Royal Naval Air Station, one mile to the north west of Kirkwall on the island of Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It was located near the strategically vital naval base of Scapa Flow, which for most of the twentieth century formed the main base of the ships of the Home Fleet. The airbase was designed to provide accommodation for disembarked Front-Line squadrons and accommodation for disembarked Ship's Flight Aircraft and was home to the Home Fleet Fleet Requirements Unit, 771 Naval Air Squadron.
A highway strip, road runway or road base is a section of a highway, motorway or other form of public road that is specially built to act as a runway for (mostly) military aircraft and to serve as an auxiliary military air base. These runways allow military aircraft to continue operating even if their regular air bases, some of the most vulnerable targets in any war, are degraded or destroyed.
Balchik Airport is a general aviation airfield and reduced former military airbase in the town of Balchik, northeast Bulgaria, on the Black Sea coast. In August 2011 the Bulgarian government transformed Balchik airbase from a military to a civilian airport and it became part of the assets of the state-owned company Sofia Airport EAD.
Hounslow Heath Aerodrome was a grass airfield, operational 1914–1920. It was in the London borough of Hounslow, and hosted the British Empire's first scheduled daily international commercial flights, in 1919. The site today includes the main remaining part of Hounslow Heath.
INS Hansa, is an Indian naval air station located near Dabolim in Goa, India. It is India's biggest naval airbase. The military air base has a civil enclave, that operates as Dabolim Airport.
RNZAF Station Waipapakauri was a Royal New Zealand Air Force station located at Waipapakauri, 14 km north of Kaitaia, Northland Region, New Zealand. Originally established in 1933 as a small local aerodrome, it was commandeered as an air force base by the RNZAF at the outbreak of war in 1939.
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