RAFO Thumrait airbase is a military

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 ...

located near

Thumrait Thumrait ( ar, ثمريت) is a small town and wilayat (province) of the Dhofar Governorate in southern Oman. In ancient times Thumrait was an important point on the Arabian peninsula's caravan routes. Frankincense trees, an important crop, used ...

, a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Dhofar Governorate The Dhofar Governorate ( ar, مُحَافَظَة ظُفَار, Muḥāfaẓat Ẓufār) is the largest of the 11 Governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in Southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah Gov ...

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

. The

Royal Air Force of Oman The Royal Air Force of Oman ( ar, سلاح الجو السلطاني عمان, Silāḥ al-Jaww as-Sulṭāniy ‘Umān or RAFO) is the air arm of the Armed Forces of Oman. History Sultan of Oman's Air Force era The Sultan of Oman's Air Force ...

(RAFO) are the operators of RAFO Thumrait, and is home to two RAFO squadrons of F16s. The

United States 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) is a current tenant, and the British

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 ...

(RAF) and the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

(IAF) also use RAFO Thumrait during regular cross-nation military exercises.

Facilities

RAFO Thumrait is at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

and has one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

(17/35) with an

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

surface measuring .

History

Originally an oil depot, RAFO Thumrait was established to project air power in that region of Oman. The first Omani air unit based at Thumrait, equipped with ex-RAF

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls-R ...

FGA.9 aircraft, was tasked with ground attack and intercept missions. Twelve new

SEPECAT Jaguar The SEPECAT Jaguar is an Anglo-French jet attack aircraft originally used by the British Royal Air Force and the French Air Force in the close air support and nuclear strike role. It is still in service with the Indian Air Force. Originall ...

fighter-bombers were added to the base's complement to improve attack capabilities in 1977. RAFO Thumrait has been used by American, British, and allied air forces to support operations during operations

Desert Shield The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

Desert Storm The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

, Desert Fox, and

Global War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant I ...

operations in Afghanistan. Many current such operations now operate from Muscat International Airport, which is closer to the area of operations. A

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 ...

War Reserve Materiel (WRM) contract was let to DynCorp Technical Services to provide support for bare base systems, medical, munitions, fuels mobility support equipment, vehicles, rations, aerospace ground equipment, air base operability equipment, and associated spares and other consumables at Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) airbase, Thumrait. These services include maintaining war reserve materiel (WRM) stored at Thumrait.

Exercises held at RAFO Thumrait

The US Air Force's

16th Special Operations Wing HV-016 is a former military unit of Norway, that was a part of the Home Guard. It was established after 1985 to "stop terror- or sabotage actions that could weaken or paralyze Norway's ability to mobilize its military and its ability to resist". ...

, 823rd 'Red Horse' Squadron went to RAFO Thumrait on 17 April 1996 for 'Eastern Castle', an exercise with the Omani military. During this exercise, the US Air Force built runway and apron extensions, and installed overhead lighting in the base's aircraft hangars.

Saif Sareea

Exercise Saif Sareea Exercise Saif Sareea ( ar, سيف سريع ) is a series of military exercises undertaken by the United Kingdom and Oman which first began in 1986 and most recently took place in 2018. Saif Sareea 1 Exercise Saif Sareea 1 was the first exercise ...

(Swift Sword} are a series of military exercises between Her Majesty's (UK) Armed Forces and His Majesty the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces. First held in 1987, Saif Sareea is one of several major training exercises held approximately every four years; to deploy, sustain, exercise and recover a medium-scale war-fighting Joint Task Force at strategic distance into a key strategic area and demonstrate the Joint Rapid Reaction Force (J-RRF) concept. Saif Sareea 2 (Swift Sword 2) was the second iteration, held in Oman between September and November 2001. It involved a combination of His Majesty the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces and Her Majesty's (UK) Armed Forces; with naval, ground and air activities. On 2 October 2018, the first four of eight

Typhoon FGR4 The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twinjet, twin-engine, canard (aeronautics), canard delta wing, multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactu ...

fighter jets II (Army Coperation) Squadron travelled to RAFO Thumrait from their home base of

RAF Lossiemouth Royal Air Force Lossiemouth or more commonly RAF Lossiemouth is a military airfield located on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland. Lossiemouth is one of the largest and busiest fast-jet stations in the ...

in Scotland for Saif Sareea 3. This time, as part of 140 Expeditionary Air Wing (140 EAW), the Typhoons will be supported by an E-3D Sentry AEW1, operated by 8 Squadron, normally based at

RAF Waddington Royal Air Force Waddington otherwise known as RAF Waddington is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located beside the village of Waddington, south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire in England. The station is the RAF's Intelligence Surveillance Target A ...

in England. According to the official Royal Air Force website, "The Typhoons will fly alongside the Royal Air Force of Oman's F-16 aircraft during the largest tri-service, bilateral, interoperability exercise in the region for almost two decades". Other RAF elements at Thumrait in support of SS3 was 1 Squadron RAF Regiment.

Eastern Bridge

In 2009,

pilots of 'Flaming Arrows' and 'Cobras', two

Squadrons, participated in joint exercises called 'Eastern Bridge', alongside the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO)'s force of SEPECAT Jaguars and

F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful ...

s at RAFO Thumrait. Another Indo-Omani exercise, 'Eastern Bridge-II', took place in 2011 at Indian Air Force Station Jamnagar (

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

)."Indo Oman Air Exercise – Eastern Bridge – II Concludes at Jamnagar,

official Indian Air Force English language press release

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Airports in Oman Royal Air Force of Oman