The Gando Air Base (in Spanish: ''Base Aérea de Gando'') is a base of the

Spanish Air and Space Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 December , equipment ...

located in the Gran Canaria island,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and next to the Gran Canaria Airport, eastward from its runways. Beyond several hangars opposite to the passenger terminal, the Gando Air Base contains ten shelters situated on the southern end of the eastern runway. They harbor the 46 Wing (''Ala 46'') which operates

F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twinjet, twin-engine, supersonic aircraft, supersonic, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a Fighter aircraft, ...

and CASA/IPTN CN-235 aircraft, and the

SAR SAR or Sar may refer to: Places * Sar (river), Galicia, Spain * Sar, Bahrain, a residential district * Sar, Iran (disambiguation), several places in Iran * Sar, Tibet, Tibet Autonomous Region of China * Šar Mountains, in southeastern Europe ...

Eurocopter AS 532. The 46 Wing is composed of the 462 fighter (c. 22 F/A-18s) and 802 transport squadrons (3 CN-235 and 3 Cougar) and it defends the Spanish airspace around the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

. The 46th Wing is to convert from the F-18 Hornet to the Eurofighter Typhoon starting in 2026. The Gando Air Base is one of the biggest and most important air bases of the Spanish Air and Space Force and it is unique because of the wide variety of aircraft which it operates. Military activity was most intense during the mid-1970s, at the time of the crisis of decolonisation of

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the r ...

and its occupation by

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. Military crises in Western Africa, like the 2013 Mali intervention by France, made Gando Air Base the main air platform for operations in Western Africa area by

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 ...

. In 2006 Spain proposed Gando Air Base as headquarters for the newly created United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), but the AFRICOM HQ was ultimately based in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The Canary Islands Air Command (''Mando Aéreo de Canarias'' – ''MACAN'') is based in the city of Las Palmas. Canary Islands Air Command is the only territorial general Air Force Command in Spain; its mission is the maintenance, preparation and command of air units located in the Canary archipelago. Any Spanish military airplane that lands in the Canary Islands is immediately put at the disposal of the Canary Islands Air Command, who can retain it and use it as long as necessary for missions within the islands. This happens sometimes with heavy military transport, antisubmarine warfare and early warning airplanes, since the islands do not have these on a permanent basis. Once the plane is released by the Canary Islands Air Command, it can leave the Canary Islands and it reverts to the Air Force Commands of mainland Spain. The deployment base of Gando Air Base is the Lanzarote Military Airfield (''Aeródromo Militar de Lanzarote''). Lanzarote Military Airfield has its own permanent Air Force troops platoons and an air defence radar (the EVA 22, which covers the Eastern Canary Islands and the maritime area up to the Sahara), but it has no permanently based military planes, using the ones from Gando.

Space launch operations

In 1997, Gando Air Base was used to launch the

Minisat 01 The Minisat 01 was a satellite developed in Spain as means to kickstart its space program. The project started in 1990 and was funded by both the Inter-Ministerial Committee of Space Science and Technology (CICYT) and the Instituto Nacional de T� ...

satellite and it was proposed as an alternative to

El Hierro Launch Centre El Hierro Launch Centre (in Spanish: ''Centro de Lanzamiento Espacial de La Isla de El Hierro'') is a proposed project by Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA) to create a spaceport on the island of El Hierro, called the "Meridian Ze ...

References

External links

Gando Air Base official website
{{coord, 27.936, -15.379, type:landmark_region:ES-GC_dim:3000, display=title Air force installations of Spain Rocket launch sites in Spain

Space launch operations

See also

References

External links