Kirkuk International Airport is an airport located in

Kirkuk Kirkuk (; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate. The city is home to a diverse population of Kurds, Iraqi Turkmen, Iraqi Turkmens and Arabs. Kirkuk sits on the ruins of the original Kirkuk Cit ...

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 ...

. The airport officially opened in 16 October 2022 for civil visitors. Since 2003, the airport was used by the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

as a military airport. It was returned to the

Iraqi Army The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), also referred to as the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was formerly known as the Royal Iraq ...

in November 2011. In 2012, the Iraqi Transportation Ministry decided to move the military section to another location, a prerequisite for turning the air base into a civilian airport. According to the (Nazaha) committee, the government allocated 93.5 million dollars from the airport project.

History

At the onset of the Iran-Iraq War, Al-Hurriah was the main airbase use by the newly purchased

Mirage F1 The Dassault Mirage F1 is a French fighter and attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was developed as a successor to the Mirage III family. During the 1960s, Dassault commenced development of what would become t ...

s. It was bombed in

Operation Sultan 10 Operation Sultan 10 () was an operation of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) on 29 October 1980, at the beginning of the Iran–Iraq War. Six F-4E Phantom IIs from the IRIAF's 32nd and 33rd Squadrons took part in an attack on the ...

in 1980 in the early phase of the war. Kirkuk Regional Air Base was home to the

506th Air Expeditionary Group The 506th Air Expeditionary Group (506 AEG) is a provisional United States Air Force unit. The group is assigned to the United States Air Forces Central 332d Air Expeditionary Wing, stationed at Joint Base Balad, Iraq. The 506 AEG secures the ...

. The group maintained base security, conducted safe flying operations and actively supported base agencies in support of

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

, Operation New Dawn, and other

U.S. Air Forces Central The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint D ...

and U.S. Central Command contingency plans. Approximately 1,000 active-duty, Reserve and Guard

Airmen An airman is a member of an air force or air arm of a nation's armed forces. In certain air forces, it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank. An airman can also be referred to as a soldier in other definitions. As a military rank designat ...

were assigned to the 506th AEG during any given Air Expeditionary Force rotation. Additionally, approximately 5,000 soldiers are assigned to the installation, commonly known as Forward Operating Base Warrior. As of July 2011, the majority of these soldiers were assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team,

U.S. 1st Infantry Division The 1st Infantry Division (1ID) is a Armored brigade combat team, combined arms Division (military), division of the United States Army, and is the oldest continuously serving division in the Regular Army (United States), Regular Army. It has ...

, and the

U.S. 1st Cavalry Division The 1st Cavalry Division ("First Team") is a Armored brigade combat team, combined arms division (military), division and is one of the most decorated combat divisions of the United States Army. It is based at Fort Cavazos, Texas. It was for ...

. The 506th AEG was the most forward deployed Air Force Group in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The heritage of the 506th AEG is tied to the famous

506th Fighter Group 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Among the base agencies the 506th AEG actively supports is the Kirkuk Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT).

Airlines and destinations

The airport reopened to civilian aircraft in 2022.

Location

Kirkuk RAB lies in northeastern region of Iraq in the outskirts of the city of Kirkuk, one of the largest metropolitan areas in Iraq. Kirkuk is approximately north of

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 ...

References

External links

Official Website

KRAB Kronicle

Kirkuk News
{{Airports the Middle East Installations of the United States Air Force in Iraq Iraqi Air Force bases