The Palmachim Airbase ( he, בָּסִיס חֵיל-הַאֲוִויר פַּלְמַחִים) is an Israeli military facility and

spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport'', and even more so ''cosmodrome'', has traditionally been used for sites capable ...

located near the cities of

Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( he, רִאשׁוֹן לְצִיּוֹן , ''lit.'' First to Zion, Arabic: راشون لتسيون) is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan ar ...

and

Yavne Yavne ( he, יַבְנֶה) or Yavneh is a city in the Central District of Israel. In many English translations of the Bible, it is known as Jabneh . During Greco-Roman times, it was known as Jamnia ( grc, Ἰαμνία ''Iamníā''; la, Iamnia) ...

on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

coast. It is named after nearby

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

Palmachim Palmachim ( he, פַּלְמַחִים) is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located about ten kilometers south of the Gush Dan, Tel Aviv area along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, among the sand dunes, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gan Raveh ...

. The base is home to several IAF

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

and

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

squadrons, and serves as a

rocket launch site This article constitutes a list of rocket launch sites. Some of these sites are known as spaceports or cosmodromes. A single rocket launch is sufficient for inclusion in the table, as long as the site is properly documented through a reference. M ...

for the Arrow missile. Palmachim is also used to launch the

Shavit Shavit ( he, שביט, link=no, meaning ''comet'') may refer to: People Surname * Ari Shavit (born 1957), Israeli reporter and writer * Bradley Shavit Artson (born 1959), American rabbi * Dorit Shavit (born 1949), Israeli ambassador * Edna Shavit ...

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

into

retrograde orbit Retrograde motion in astronomy is, in general, orbital or rotational motion of an object in the direction opposite the rotation of its primary, that is, the central object (right figure). It may also describe other motions such as precession or ...

by launching over the Mediterranean, acting as Israel's primary spaceport. The launchpad is situated at . This ensures that rocket debris falls into water, and that the rocket does not fire over regional neighboring countries near Israel that could use the technology. Palmachim is also used to test ballistic missiles, such as the

Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...

. Recent launches include: * 11 June 2007 -

Ofeq-7 Ofeq-7, (also known as Ofek 7 or Offek-7), is part of the Ofeq family of Earth observation satellites designed and built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for the Israel Ministry of Defense. Launch The Ofeq-7 was launched by a Shavit 2 s ...

satellite * 17 January 2008 - version of the Jericho III missile * 22 June 2010 -

Ofeq-9 Ofeq-9, also known as Ofek 9 ("Horizon in Hebrew), is part of the Ofeq family of reconnaissance satellites designed and built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Launch It was launched on 22 June 2010, a ...

satellite Israel Launches Ofeq-9 Satellite
* 2 November 2011 - version of the Jericho III missile * 9 April 2014 -

Ofeq-10 Ofeq-10, also known as Ofek-10 (Horizon in Hebrew), is part of the Ofeq family of reconnaissance satellites designed and built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Satellite description Ofek-10 is an u ...

satellite * 13 September 2016 -

Ofeq-11 Ofeq-11, also known as Ofek 11 (Horizon in Hebrew), is part of the Ofeq family of reconnaissance satellites designed and built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Launch Ofek-11 was launched on 13 Septe ...

satellite * 29 May 2017 - rocket propulsion system test launch * 6 July 2020 -

Ofeq-16 Ofek-16, also known as Ofeq-16, is an Israeli electro-optical reconnaissance satellite. It is part of the Ofeq family, designed and built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for the Israeli Ministry of Defence. The Space Administration in th ...

reconnaissance satellite In July 2007, it was agreed that once

Sde Dov Airport Sde Dov Airport ( he, שדה דב, ''lit.'' Dov Field, ar, مطار سدي دوف), also known as Dov Hoz Airport ( he, נמל התעופה דב הוז, ''Nemal HaTe'ufa Dov Hoz'', ar, مطار دوف هوز) was an airport in Tel Aviv, Israe ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

was closed, its military terminal would be transferred to Palmachim. The terminal was transferred when

ceased operations in July 2019.

Units

The current units at Palmachim include: *

7th Special Air Forces Wing 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, ...

Unit 669 Airborne Combat Rescue And Evacuation Unit 669 ( he, יחידת החילוץ והפינוי הקרבי בהיטס 669,''Yechidat HaHilu'tz VeHaPinu'i HaKravi Behetes 669'') is the Israel Defense Forces heliborne Combat Search and Rescue extracti ...

** Unit 5101 **Unit 5700 ( In Hebrew) * 123 Squadron – operating

UH-60 Black Hawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility military helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System ...

* 124th Squadron – operating

Sikorsky S-70 The Sikorsky S-70 is an American medium transport/utility helicopter family manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. It was developed for the United States Army in the 1970s, winning a competition to be designated the UH-60 Black Hawk and spawning a ...

Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift Utility helicopter, utility military helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transpo ...

* 151st Squadron – Missile Testing Squadron * 161th Squadron – operating

Elbit Hermes 450 The Elbit Hermes 450 is an Israeli medium-sized multi-payload unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for tactical long endurance missions. It has an endurance of over 20 hours, with a primary mission of reconnaissance, surveillance and communicat ...

UAVs * 166th Squadron – operating Elbit Hermes 900 UAVs * 200th Squadron – operating

IAI Heron The IAI Heron (Machatz-1) is a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the Malat (UAV) division of Israel Aerospace Industries. It is capable of Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) operations of up to 52 h ...

UAVs

Orbital launch history

On 17 January 2008, Israel test fired a multi-stage ballistic missile believed to be of the Jericho III type, reportedly capable of carrying "conventional or non conventional warheads". On 2 November 2011, Israel successfully test fired a missile believed to be an upgraded version of the Jericho III; the long trail of smoke was seen throughout central Israel.

References

External links

Palmachim Air Force Base (Israel)
Jane's Information Group

Airports-Worldwide.com

Globalsecurity.org {{authority control Buildings and structures completed in the 1960s Space program of Israel Israeli Air Force bases Spaceports Rocket launch sites