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An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an
An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome
An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) 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 publ ...
used as a military base
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 ...
by a military force for the operation of military aircraft
A military aircraft is any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary armed service of any type. Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat:
* Combat aircraft are designed to destroy enemy equipm ...
.
Air base facilities
An air base typically has some facilities similar to acivilian
Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
—for example, air traffic control
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...
and firefighting
Firefighting is the act of extinguishing or preventing the spread of unwanted fires from threatening human lives and destroying property and the environment. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter.
Firefighters typically ...
. Some military aerodromes have passenger facilities; for example RAF Brize Norton
Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force. It is close to the village of Brize Norton, and the towns of Carterton and Witney.
The station ...
in England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
has a terminal used by passengers for the Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
's flights. A number of military air bases also have a civil enclave
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.
By country
United States
The United States has several joint-use ...
for commercial passenger flights, e.g. Beijing Nanyuan Airport
Beijing Nanyuan Airport was a military airbase and a secondary commercial airport of Beijing. Located in Fengtai District, south of the 4th Ring Road and from Tiananmen Square, Nanyuan Airport was first opened in 1910, making it the olde ...
(China), Chandigarh Airport
Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport is a civil enclave customs airport serving the city of Chandigarh. The airport is located in the village of Jhiurheri, Mohali, Punjab. The airport caters to six domestic airlines and connects Chandig ...
(India), Ibaraki Airport
is an airport in the city of Omitama, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. It also serves as an air base for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) under the name Hyakuri Air Base, and is the closest fighter base to Tokyo. The airport was known as p ...
(Japan), Burlington International Airport
Burlington International Airport is a joint-use civil-military airport serving Burlington, Vermont, the state of Vermont's largest municipality. It is owned by the City of Burlington and located in the neighboring city of South Burlington, thr ...
(USA),
Sheikh Ul-Alam International Airport Srinagar
Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
(India), Taipei Songshan Airport
Taipei Songshan Airport is a regional airport and military airbase located in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. The airport covers an area of .
The civilian section of Songshan Airport has scheduled flights to domestic destinations in Taiwa ...
(Taiwan).
Some air bases have revetment
A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water
...
s, hardened aircraft shelter
A hardened aircraft shelter (HAS) or protective aircraft shelter (PAS) is a reinforced hangar to house and protect military aircraft from enemy attack. Cost considerations and building practicalities limit their use to fighter size aircraft.
...
s, or even underground hangar
An underground hangar is a type of hangar for military aircraft, usually dug into the side of a mountain for protection. It is bigger and more protected than a hardened aircraft shelter (HAS).
An underground hangar complex may include tunnels cont ...
s, to protect aircraft from enemy attack. Combat aircraft
A military aircraft is any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary armed service of any type. Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat:
* Combat aircraft are designed to destroy enemy equipm ...
require storage of aircraft ordnance
Aircraft ordnance or ordnance (in the context of military aviation) is weapons (e.g. bombs, missiles, rockets and gun ammunition) used by aircraft. The term is often used when describing the weight of air-to-ground weaponry that can be carried ...
. An air base may be defended by anti-aircraft weapon
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
s and force protection
Force protection (FP) refers to the concept of protecting military personnel, family members, civilians, facilities, equipment and operations from threats or hazards in order to preserve operational effectiveness and contribute to mission succes ...
troops.
Dispersal air base
A dispersal air base is an airfield that is used for the purpose of dispersing air units in the event of conflict, so to minimize the vulnerability of aircraft and its supporting units while on the ground. Dispersal air bases are not necessarily ordinarily operational in peace time and only becomes activated when needed. Airfields used as dispersal bases can either be auxiliary military airfields, civilian airports orhighway strip
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 al ...
s. Examples of uses of dispersal bases are the Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
Bas 60
Bas 60 (''Flygbassystem 60'', Air Base System 60) was an air base system developed and used by the Swedish Air Force during the Cold War. The system was based around defensive force dispersal of aircraft and its supporting ground operations across ...
and Bas 90 systems, the List of V Bomber dispersal bases, British V-Bomber dispersal bases and NATO Dispersed Operating Bases, NATO's Dispersed Operating Bases in France.
Road air base
Road air bases are highways constructed to double as auxiliary air bases in the event of war. Nations known to utilize this strategy are India, Swedish Air Force, Sweden, Finnish Air Force, Finland, Germany, Republic of Singapore Air Force, Singapore, Motorways of Switzerland#Military significance, Switzerland, ROKAF, South Korea, Turkish Air Force, Turkey, Polish Air Force, Poland, Pakistan and the Czech Republic. In the case of Finnish Air Force, Finnish road air bases, the space needed for landing aircraft is reduced by means of an Arrestor wires, arrestor wire, similar to that used on some aircraft carriers (Finnish Air Force uses F-18s, which can land on aircraft carriers).Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a type of naval ship which serves as a seaborne air base, the development of which has greatly enhanced the capabilities of modern air forces. They are now a key part of the military, allowing for military aircraft to be staged much nearer the theater conflict. Aircraft carriers were vital to the United States of America, United States during World War II 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", which allows greater flexibility in diplomacy as well as military affairs. Aircraft carriers are also used in disaster relief.See also
* Royal Air Force station * List of Royal Canadian Air Force stations * List of United States Air Force installations * List of Soviet Air Force bases * Naming of military air basesReferences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Military Air base Military aviation, Base Military airbases, Airports by type