Isa Air Base (IAB), formerly known as Shaikh Isa Air Base , is located on the island nation of

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. Isa Air Base is located on the shore of the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

in southern Bahrain. It hosts the

Royal Bahraini Air Force The Royal Bahraini Air Force (, abbreviated as RBAF, formerly known as Bahrain Amiri Air Force) is the aerial warfare branch of the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF). Originally formed as the BDF Air Wing in 1976, it became an independent service bran ...

(RBAF) Fighter Wing and the two squadrons that comprise it.

History

During the first

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- ...

, some of the

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

forces, having trouble with the Arab pronunciation, knew the base under the name "

Shakey's Pizza Shakey's Pizza is a pizza restaurant chain based in the United States and the Philippines. Founded in 1954, it was the first franchise pizza chain in the United States. In 1968, the chain had 342 locations. The chain had about 500 stores global ...

Current use

Marine Aircraft Group 11 at Shaikh Isa airfield 1991

Bahrain

The base is home to the RBAF's 1st Fighter Wing: * 1st Fighter Squadron – Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon C/D Block 40 * 2nd Fighter Squadron – F-16C/D Block 40 * 6th Fighter Squadron – Northrop F-5E/F * 5th Squadron – British Aerospace Hawk * 4th Squadron –

Slingsby T-67 Firefly The Slingsby T67 Firefly, originally produced as the Fournier RF-6, is a two-seat aerobatic training aircraft, built by Slingsby Aviation in Kirkbymoorside, Yorkshire, England. It has been used as a trainer aircraft by several armed forces, a ...

United States

In March 2009, the United States Air Force established a camp on Isa Air Base to support aerial port operations. The unit was designated a detachment of the

379th Air Expeditionary Wing The 379th Air Expeditionary Wing is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to Air Combat Command. As a provisional unit, it may be activated or inactivated at any time. The Wing is one of the largest, most diverse expeditionary win ...

Al Udeid Air Base Al Udeid Air Base () is one of two military bases southwest of Doha, Qatar, also known as Abu Nakhlah Airport (). It houses the Qatar Emiri Air Force, United States Air Force, Royal Air Force, and other foreign forces. It is host to a forward h ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. This detachment's purpose was to accelerate the delivery of

mine-resistant ambush-protected Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle (MRAPV), also known as MRAP vehicle, is a type of armoured personnel carrier that is designed specifically to withstand land mines, improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, and ambushes to save troops' li ...

all-terrain vehicles to U.S. forces in Afghanistan. As part of its operations against ISIL, the United States has deployed various aircraft there. As of August 27, 2020, KBR is in charge of base operations support services at Isa Air Base.

References

External links