King Khalid Air Base (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: قاعدة الملك خالد الجوية) (KKAB) is an airbase of

Royal Saudi Air Force The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF; ) is the military aviation, aviation branch of the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian Armed Forces. The Royal Saudi Air Force currently has wings, squadrons, and a special forces unit dedicated to comba ...

(RSAF) in the south-west of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, near

Khamis Mushait Khamis Mushayt or Khamis Mushait (, ' , locally: ) is a city in south-west Saudi Arabia, located east of Abha, the provincial seat of the Asir Province from the national capital of Riyadh. It is the capital of the Shahran tribe in the Asir regi ...

History

The airbase, with code KMX, has a paved runway without customs facilities. The base was designed and built by the Dutch company Ballast Nedam for BAE in the 1960s, with additional construction through the 1970s and 1980s, and has

McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force (USAF) selected McDonnell Douglas's desi ...

service facilities.

Gulf war

During the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

in 1991, the USAF had a base here from which they launched F-117 stealth fighter from the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing on

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, and other high priority targets in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. On the opening night of the war,

Vickers VC10 The Vickers VC10 is a retired mid-sized, narrow-body long-range British jet airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The VC10 is often compared to the larger Soviet Ily ...

tankers from No. 101 Squadron RAF launched here refueled

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

Panavia Tornado The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multi-role combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. There are three primary #Variants, Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS ...

GR1s. The RSAF forces included the newly formed 66th Squadron with Tornado GR1 aircraft and immediately after Gulf war 1 they took delivery of the RSAF GR1a Reconnaissance versions supported by the 66th Squadron Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre (RIC). Later in the 1990s a second Tornado GR1 Squadron formed - 83rd Squadron.

Current use

* RSAF Wing 5: ** No. 6 Squadron RSAF with McDonnell Douglas F-15SA Strike Eagles & F-15S ** No. 55 Squadron RSAF with F-15SA Strike Eagles ** No. 99 Squadron RSAF with the Eurocopter AS532M Cougar **Detachment from

No. 14 Squadron RSAF No. 14 Squadron RSAF is a squadron (aviation), squadron of the Royal Saudi Air Force that operates the Bell 412, Agusta-Bell AB 412EP and the Bell 412EP at King Fahad Air Base, Taif, Mecca Province in Saudi Arabia within RSAF 2 Wing. The squadron ...

with the

Bell 412 The Bell 412 is a utility helicopter of the Huey family manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It is a development of the Bell 212, with the major difference being the composite four-blade main rotor. It is a twin-turbine helicopter that has been ...

EP & AB212 ** No. 202 Squadron RSAF with the

CH-4B CASC Rainbow (, abbreviation CH) is a series of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) marketed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). The series includes multi-role medium-altitude long-endurance UAVs and micro air vehicles (MAV). ...

** No. 203 Squadron RSAF with the CH-4B

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King Khalid Air Base 1960 establishments in Saudi Arabia Royal Saudi Air Force Military installations of Saudi Arabia

History

Gulf war

Current use

See also

References