Ngerengere Air Force Base is a

military airbase 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 used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

of the

Tanzania Air Force Command The Tanzania Air Force Command ( sw, Kamandi ya Jeshi la Anga) is the aerial service branch of the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF). The current commander of the Tanzania Air Force Command is Major General SB MANI , who replaced major gen ...

. It is located about west of

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

, in Ngerengere ward,

Morogoro District Morogoro Urban District ( sw, Wilaya ya Morogoro Mjini) is one of the six districts of the Morogoro Region of Tanzania. It contains the city Morogoro, capital of the Morogoro Region, and no villages. Morogoro Urban District covers . It is bordere ...

Morogoro Region Morogoro Region (''Mkoa wa Morogoro'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Ireland. Morogoro Region is border ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

History

The airbase was built with assistance from the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

government. During the

Uganda–Tanzania War The Uganda–Tanzania War, known in Tanzania as the Kagera War (Kiswahili: ''Vita vya Kagera'') and in Uganda as the 1979 Liberation War, was fought between Uganda and Tanzania from October 1978 until June 1979 and led to the overthrow of Uganda ...

, a

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, de ...

MiG Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (russian: Российская самолётостроительная корпорация „МиГ“, Rossiyskaya samolyotostroitel'naya korporatsiya "MiG"), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, was a Russi ...

aircraft en route to

Mwanza Airport Mwanza International Airport is a major regional airport in northern Tanzania serving the city of Mwanza. It is located near the southern shores of Lake Victoria approximately from the city. It serves as the main hub for Auric Air and a seconda ...

in northern Tanzania was hit in a

friendly fire In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy/hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while eng ...

whilst flying over the nearby

Musoma Musoma is a city in the east shore of lake Victoria of Tanzania. It is the capital of Mara Region, one of the administrative Regions of Tanzania. It also serves as the administrative centre of Musoma Rural District and Musoma Urban District. Lo ...

town. All three aircraft were hit by

SAM-2 The S-75 (Russian: С-75; NATO reporting name SA-2 Guideline) is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defence system, built around a surface-to-air missile with command guidance. Following its first deployment in 1957 it became one of the most w ...

missiles fired by the army's anti-aircraft units, who mistook it for enemy aircraft as they had not been informed. On 28 June 2010, an

FT-5 The Shenyang J-5 (Chinese: 歼-5) (NATO reporting name ''Fresco'') is a Chinese-built single-seat jet interceptor and fighter aircraft derived from the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17. The J-5 was exported as the F-5 and was originally designated ...

(registration JW-9119) whilst on a routine training mission, lost communication with the airbase and made an

emergency landing An emergency landing is a premature landing made by an aircraft in response to an emergency involving an imminent or ongoing threat to the safety and operation of the aircraft, or involving a sudden need for a passenger or crew on board to term ...

on the A14 highway. Upon landing, one of its wings crashed onto a tourist vehicle; resulting in the deaths of both the instructor and trainee.

Operations

The airbase maintains a prohibited (HTP6) and a

restricted airspace Restricted airspace is an area of airspace typically used by the military in which the local controlling authorities have determined that air traffic must be restricted or prohibited for safety or security concerns. It is one of many types of sp ...

(HTR7) west of Dar es Salaam's

Julius Nyerere International Airport Julius Nyerere International Airport is the international airport of Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania. It is located approximately southwest of the city centre. The airport has flights to destinations in Africa, Asia, Europe, and ...

. A number of civilian aircraft have infringed into these areas, and the

Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) is the government body that regulates aviation, air services and airport, airport services, and provides air navigation, air navigation services, in Tanzania. It was founded by an Act of Parliament in 2 ...

has advised pilots to keep away at all times. A report published in 1996 by the Tanzania Accident Investigation Branch recommended that the prohibited area (HTP6) ought to be modified in order to facilitate easier access to towns west of Dar es Salaam. It also stated that civilian aircraft were able to fly over it upon request to Ngerengere Tower, contrary to its designation as a civilian

no-fly zone A no-fly zone, also known as a no-flight zone (NFZ), or air exclusion zone (AEZ), is a territory or area established by a military power over which certain aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are usually set up in an enemy power's te ...

. The nearby

Morogoro Airstrip Morogoro Airstrip is an airstrip serving the city of Morogoro in the Morogoro Region of Tanzania. It is north of the town. The airstrip location is just off the western side of the prohibited airspace (HTP6) of the Ngerengere Air Force Base but ...

is located just off the western side of HTP6 but within HTR7. According to a local pilot, the detour over the airbase results in an additional 15 minutes to the flight duration between Morogoro and Dar es Salaam.

Aircraft assigned

References

External links

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Celebration marking the 50th Independence Anniversary
{{Airports in Tanzania Tanzanian Air Force bases