Rygge Air Force Base ( no, Rygge flystasjon) is located in the municipalities of

Rygge Rygge was a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It was merged into Moss, Norway, Moss municipality on January 1, 2020. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Rygge. Ryg ...

and

Råde Råde is a municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Karlshus. The parish of ''Raade'' was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The neighbouring ...

Viken county Viken may refer to: *Viken, Scandinavia, a historical region *Viken (county), a Norwegian county established in 2020 *Viken, Sweden, a bimunicipal locality in Skåne County, Sweden *Viken (lake), a lake in Sweden, part of the part of the Göta cana ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. The

Royal Norwegian Air Force The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) ( no, Luftforsvaret, , The Air Defence) is the air force of Norway. It was established as a separate arm of the Norwegian Armed Forces on 10 November 1944. The RNoAF's peacetime establishment is approximatel ...

(RNoAF) operates various squadron and aircraft at the airbase, including

AgustaWestland AW101 The AgustaWestland AW101 is a medium-lift helicopter in military and civil use. First flown in 1987, it was developed by a joint venture between Westland Helicopters in the United Kingdom and Agusta in Italy in response to national requireme ...

''SAR Queen'' and Bell 412 helicopters. Rygge AFB houses RNoAFs headquarters and staff, Air Force Operations Inspectorate and Air Force Training Inspectorate.

History

720 Squadron was moved from

Gardermoen Air Station Station Group Gardermoen (Norwegian: Gardermoen flystasjon) is located about 50 km north of Oslo, Norway. It is colocated with Norway's main airport, Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. 335 Squadron and 717 Squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force a ...

to Rygge. In 1989 their UH-1B helicopters were replaced with Bell 412s. In 2002, 332 Squadron with

F-16 Fighting Falcons 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 ...

was moved from Rygge to Bodø Main Air Station. Some of the aircraft were relocated to

Ørland Main Air Station Ørland Main Air Station (Norwegian: Ørland hovedflystasjon) is situated at the mouth of the Trondheimsfjorden in the municipality of Ørland in Trøndelag county in the center of Norway. Ørland is operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force and i ...

. On 1 October 2007, the base was expanded to include the civilian Moss Airport, Rygge, which will be shut down again on 1 November 2016. The

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...

FY19 budget has requested $13.8 million being spent for

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller general aviation airports sometimes use gravel ...

construction at Rygge airport to expand operational capabilities as a part of the European Deterrence Initiative. In 2016, Rygge once again became an air force base under the name Air Force Base Rygge ( no, Luftforsvarets base Rygge).

Operations

339 Special Operations Aviation Squadron's Bell 412SP aircraft used primarily to support the Norwegian Special Operations Command and

Norwegian Police Service The Norwegian Police Service ( no, Politi- og lensmannsetaten) is the Norwegian national civilian police agency. The service dates to the 13th century when the first sheriffs were appointed, and the current structure established in 2003. It c ...

SWAT units. 717 Squadron operates two

Dassault Falcon 20 The Dassault Falcon 20 is a French business jet developed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. The first business jet developed by the firm, it became the first of a family of business jets to be produced under the same name; of these, both t ...

jets performing electronic-warfare (EW) and EW training. A detachment of 330 Squadron operates

''SAR Queen'' helicopters for search and rescue. Other represented units from the

Norwegian Armed Forces The Norwegian Armed Forces ( no, Forsvaret, , The Defence) is the military organization responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of five branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Coast Guard, the Royal ...

include the Home Guard, Norwegian Defence Logistics Organization, The Norwegian Defense Estates Agency and Norwegian Cyber Defence Force.

References

External links

Royal Norwegian Air Force' page on Rygge
(in Norwegian) {{Authority control Royal Norwegian Air Force stations Airports in Viken Airports established in 1942 1942 establishments in Norway Military installations in Viken Råde Rygge