Larissa State Airport "Thessaly" ( el, Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Λάρισσας "Θεσσαλία") was built in 1912. It was the commercial airport of
Larissa
Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...
until 1997 when it closed for civilian traffic. Currently the airport is being used only by military aircraft of the
Hellenic Air Force
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 8 November
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, equipment_label ...
, whose 110th Combat Wing (110 Πτέρυγα Μάχης, 110 ΠΜ) is stationed there. The runways do not have an ILS.
Location of the airport
The airport is very close to the city and to the suburban railway line to
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
(3 km).
USAF
In May 2018, it was announced that
US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
(USAF)
MQ-9 Reaper
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the Unit ...
drones were temporarily based at Larissa while their usual base in Africa was being updated, according to a
Pentagon
In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°.
A pentagon may be simpl ...
spokesman, Eric Pahon. Although he declined to say which base was the normal site for MQ-9s, it is known that the USAF has been expanding facilities for MQ-9s at
Nigerien Air Base 201
Niger Air Base 201 (also known in some sources as "Nigerien Air Base 201") is a United States drone airbase near Agadez, Niger.
The base is about 5 km southeast of Agadez. It is owned by the Nigerien military but built and paid for by the Un ...
(
Agadez
Agadez ( Air Tamajeq: ⴰⴶⴰⴷⴰⵣ, ''Agadaz''), formerly spelled Agadès, is the fifth largest city in Niger, with a population of 110,497 based on the 2012 census. The capital of Agadez Region, it lies in the Sahara desert, and is also ...
) in
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languagesWhy are US drones being based in Greece for the first time? Aaron Mehta, DefenseNews.com, 2018-05-23 US assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs A. Wess Mitchell also discussed the possibility of relocating a significant portion of US military assets to the premises.