Al Taqaddum

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Al Taqaddum Airbase
IATA: n/a - ICAO: ORAT
Summary
Airport type		Military
Elevation AMSL		275 ft (84 m)
Coordinates		33°20′17″N, 43°35′49″E
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
12R/30L	13,186	4,019	Concrete
12L/30R	12,087	3,684	Concrete / Asphalt

Al Taqaddum Airbase (ICAO: ORAT) (a.k.a. "TQ") is an airbase is located in central Iraq approximately 74 kilometers west of Baghdad. The airfield is served by two runways 13,000 and 12,000 feet long. When American forces took the area in 2003, they established Camp Ridgway, it served as one of the bases of operation for the 82nd Airborne Division. In 2004 the base name was changed to Camp Taqaddum to keep a more Iraqi face on the local military mission. On August 22, 2004, a group of Marines dedicated the airfield at Al Taqaddum to Lt. Col. David S. Greene, a reserve Marine AH-1W Super Cobra pilot with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 775 who was killed in action earlier in the year.

According to the Gulf War Air Power Survey, there were 24 hardened aircraft shelters at Al Taqaddum. At the each end of the main runway are hardened aircraft shelters knowns as "trapezoids" or "Yugos" which were built by Yugoslavian contractors some time prior to 1985. Al Taqaddum is one of the few Iraqi air bases not located inside the "No-Fly Zone." Survey teams found numerous MiG 25 and Su 25 Iraqi Air Force fighter jets buried in the area, presumably from the time of the Gulf War.