Holzdorf Air Base () is a military

airfield An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip 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 public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

operated by the

German Air Force The German Air Force (, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ) was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces of West Ger ...

(''Luftwaffe''). It is located east of Holzdorf, a subdivision of the municipality of Jessen in the German

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

. It is also known as Schönewalde/Holzdorf Air Base, as most of the base is situated east of the Saxony-Anhalt/

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

border, in the city of

Schönewalde Schönewalde is a town in the Elbe-Elster district, in southwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated in the Fläming Heath, 30 km south of Luckenwalde, and 40 km east of Wittenberg. History From 1815 to 1944, Schönewalde was par ...

. The air base is home to the air forces's

Helicopter Wing 64 Helicopter Wing 64 () is a wing of the German Air Force (''Luftwaffe''). It was subordinate to Air Force Forces Command until that was disbanded in 2013. In 2015 Helicopter Wing 64 was integrated into Air Force Troops Command which is subordin ...

. In 1968 the site was selected by the

Air Forces of the National People's Army The Air Forces of the National People's Army ( [], ) was the air force of East Germany. As with the , the , and the Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic, Border Troops, it was a military branch of the National People's Army (NVA). A ...

for a new airbase. The airbase was completed in 1974 and expanded into an operational airfield by 1980. The handover to the NVA's Jagdfliegergeschwader 1 took place at the beginning of November 1982, when it was relocated from Cottbus-Nord Airport to Holzdorf. The airport is at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''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 equipotenti ...

of above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. It has one

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

designated 09/27 with a concrete/asphalt surface measuring . Support Squadron 1 of the

German Army Aviation Corps The German Army Aviation Corps () is a special unit within the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr). The German Army Aviation Corps is a branch of the German Army (''Heer''), containing all its helicopter units. The German Air Force and the German Na ...

was formerly located at Holzdorf. It was dissolved in 2013 as part of the reorganization/reduction of the

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

announced in October 2011. Construction of

Arrow 3 The Arrow 3 or ''Hetz 3'' (, or ) is an exoatmospheric hypersonic anti-ballistic missile, jointly funded, developed and produced by Israel and the United States. Undertaken by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Boeing, it is overseen by the ...

infrastructure is expected to be completed by 2028. https://defensemirror.com/news/38910/Germany_Begins_Work_on_Arrow_3_Missile_Defense_System

References

External links

* . Military AIP Germany.
ETSH Procedures
Military AIP Germany. * * {{Authority control Installations of the German Air Force Buildings and structures in Wittenberg Elbe-Elster Land Airports in Brandenburg Airports in Saxony-Anhalt 1974 establishments in East Germany Airports established in 1974 Buildings and structures in Elbe-Elster