Lieutenant General Best Barracks ( nl, Luitenant-generaal Bestkazerne), formerly De Peel Air Base ( nl, Luchtmachtbasis De Peel), is a

Royal Netherlands Army The Royal Netherlands Army ( nl, Koninklijke Landmacht) is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised – making the Dutc ...

guided missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...

base in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It currently has only one, though not actively used, runway.

History

In June 1944 the German

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

constructed the first airfield near the town of De Rips, consisting of a single 1400 meters long and 75 meters wide grass strip. The airfield did not see much use by the retreating German forces and was later briefly used in October 1944 by the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

126 wing as an Advanced Landing Ground (designated B-84). It was not located on the site of the current air base, but about 8 kilometers to the north-west of it. There are no visible remains of it today. The air base was founded as a diversion airfield in 1954 with two parallel runways (06L/24R and 06R/24L) and never served as an active base for aircraft, seeing only incidental usage from the aerial photo reconnaissance unit from nearby Volkel Air Base, even though the base was expanded in 1973 for possible

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

use. In 1993 it was closed as an operational airfield and became the home base of the

Royal Netherlands Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = ''Parade March of the Royal Netherlands Air Force'' , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

guided missile division (Groep Geleide Wapens, or GGW). One runway remained, though it is no longer actively used by the military. The base is used for

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

flying, however. Military aerial exercises also take place in its

airspace Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as aerospace, which is the ...

. In March 2012 it was decided as part of a reorganisation to transfer control of the base from the

Royal Netherlands Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = ''Parade March of the Royal Netherlands Air Force'' , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

to the

, resulting in a name change to Lieutenant General Best Barracks ( nl, Luitenant-generaal Bestkazerne). However, it is still commonly referred to as ''De Peel''.

Units

The following units are based at Vredepeel: * Defensie Grondgebonden Luchtverdedigings Commando embleem

Joint Ground-based Air Defense Command ** 800 Support Squadron (''"800 Ondersteuningssquadron"'') *** Communication and Information Systems Flight (''"CIS-vlucht"'') *** Logistics Flight (''"Logistieke vlucht"'') *** Force Protection Flight (''"Force Protection-vlucht"'') ** 802 Patriot Squadron (''"802 Patriot-squadron"'') *** Command and Control Flight(''"Commandovoeringsvlucht"'') *** 3x Patriot flights (''"Patriot-vlucht"''), with

Patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

long range

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

s *** Logistics Flight (''"Logistieke vlucht"'') ** 13th Air Defense Battery "

Ypenburg Leidschenveen-Ypenburg () is a Vinex-location and district of The Hague, located in the southeast. It is geographically connected to the main body of the city by only a narrow corridor. It consists of four quarters: Hoornwijk and Ypenburg on the ...

" (''"13 Luchtverdedigingsbatterij Ypenburg"'') *** NASAMS Platoon (''"NASAMS-peloton"''), with

NASAMS 2 NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, also known as the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) is a distributed and networked short- to medium-range ground-based air defense system developed by Kongsberg Defence & Ae ...

medium range

s and AN/MPQ-64 radar systems *** Stinger Platoon (''"Stinger-peloton"''), with

Fennek The Fennek, named after the fennec (a species of small desert fox), or LGS Fennek, with LGS being short for ''Leichter Gepanzerter Spähwagen'' in German (Light Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle), is a four-wheeled armed reconnaissance vehicle p ...

-mounted

FIM-92 Stinger The FIM-92 Stinger is an American man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) that operates as an infrared homing surface-to-air missile (SAM). It can be adapted to fire from a wide variety of ground vehicles, and from helicopters as the Air-to- ...

short range surface-to-air missiles and , TRML-3D/32 radar systems *** Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar Platoon (''"Counter Rockets, Artillery and Mortar-peloton"'') *** Logistics Platoon (''"Logistiek peloton"'') ** Instruction and Training Center (''"Opleidings- en Trainingscentrum"'') ** Ground-based Air- and Missile Defense Expertise Center (''"Kenniscentrum Grondgebonden Lucht- en Raketverdediging"'')

References

External links

Airliners.net - Photos taken at De Peel
{{authority control Royal Netherlands Air Force bases Airports in Limburg (Netherlands) Venray