Anápolis Air Force Base – ALA2 is a base of the

Brazilian Air Force The Brazilian Air Force (, FAB) is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Brazilian Brazilian Army Aviation (1919–1941), Army and Brazilian Naval Aviation, Nav ...

, located in

Anápolis Anápolis ( , ) is a Brazilian city in the state of Goiás. It is located between two capitals, the federal capital Brasília and state capital Goiânia. It is the third most populous city in the state, with 398,869 inhabitants according to the ...

, Brazil.

History

The history of Anápolis Air Force Base begins on 9 February 1970, when its construction started, with the main purpose of receiving the new air force fighter at the time, the

Mirage III The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizonta ...

, designated by the Brazilian Air Force as F-103. For strategic reasons, was decided that the new air base would be close to the capital

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

. After several studies (including issues of air traffic and radio interference) the choice was the city of

, located 160 km from Brasília. The facility became operational on 23 August 1972, with the completion of the airstrip. A new air unit, specially created to operate the F-103, was then activated: the 1st Air Defense Wing (1º ALADA). This unit was decommissioned on 19 April 1979, transferring its mission to the 1st Air Defense Group (1º GDA), the unit was responsible for operating the F-103 until 2005. In 2006, started to operate the

Mirage 2000 The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, delta wing, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French ...

, already retired. Currently operates the F-5EM & FM. From 2021 operates the

JAS 39 Gripen The Saab JAS 39 Gripen ( ; English: ''Griffin'') is a light single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab AB. The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with rela ...

, designated by Brazil as F-39 E & F.

Units

The following units are based at Anápolis Air Force Base: The base also operates a battery of surface to air missile called 3rd Air Defense Group (3º GDAAE).

Retired aircraft

File:Solenidade de aniversário do 1º G. A. de Caça, na Base Aérea de Santa Cruz 2.tif, Dassault Mirage III File:CRUZEX 2013 (10798570754).jpg, Dassault Mirage 2000 File:Brazilian Air Force Embraer AT-26 Xavante (EMB-326GC) RSC.jpg, Embraer AT-26 Xavante File:Aeronaves Ágata 7 (8786699332).jpg, Learjet R-35

Access

The base is located 12 km from downtown Anápolis.

References

External links