Ar Rumaylah Southwest Air Base
Encyclopedia
Ar Rumaylah Southwest Air Base is a former Iraqi Air Force
base in the Basra Governorate of Iraq
. It was captured by Coalition forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
The base was heavily attacked by Coalition air power during Operation Desert Storm in January 1991, and seized by Coalition ground forces in February 1991. It was abandoned by the Iraqi Air Force after the cease fire in late February.
Current aerial imagery shows that the operational structures around the airfield appear to have been demolished and removed. Today the concrete runway and series of taxiways remain exposed and deteriorating to the elements, being reclaimed by the desert.
Iraqi Air Force
The Iraqi Air Force or IQAF is the military branch in Iraq responsible for the policing of international borders, surveillance of national assets and aerial operations...
base in the Basra Governorate of Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. It was captured by Coalition forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
Overview
Ar Rumaylah Air Base was a primary air base for the Iraqi Air Force. At each end of the main 10,000' runway are a dozen hardened aircraft shelters known as "Trapezoids" or "Yugos" which were built by Yugoslavian contractors some time prior to 1985 with multiple runways and taxiways, patterned after their Russian counterparts.The base was heavily attacked by Coalition air power during Operation Desert Storm in January 1991, and seized by Coalition ground forces in February 1991. It was abandoned by the Iraqi Air Force after the cease fire in late February.
Current aerial imagery shows that the operational structures around the airfield appear to have been demolished and removed. Today the concrete runway and series of taxiways remain exposed and deteriorating to the elements, being reclaimed by the desert.