NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen

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NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen
IATA: GKE - ICAO: ETNG
Summary
Airport type Military
Operator NATO
Serves Geilenkirchen
Elevation AMSL 296 ft (90 m)
Coordinates 50°57′39″N, 006°02′33″E
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
09/27 10,009 3,050 Concrete/Asphalt
NATO E-3 flying with American F-16s
NATO E-3 flying with American F-16s

NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, (IATA: GKE, ICAO: ETNG) located near Geilenkirchen, Germany, is the main operating airfield of the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Force (NAEW&CF) Command's E-3A Component (AWACS). This component provides an early warning radar system to enhance NATO's air defence capabilities. Seventeen E-3A aircraft are used for air surveillance and air operations communications support. Aircraft are flown by multinational crews from 14 nations including Poland, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and the United States.

The NATO Airborne Early Warning Force was created in January 1982 and is NATO's only multinational operational flying unit. The Geilenkirchen base was originally known as RAF Geilenkirchen, a Royal Air Force (RAF) station built after World War II.

Though the E-3 Sentries and Boeing 707s operate from mainly from the Geilenkirchen air base, they also operate from Preveza-Aktion (Greece) and Ørland Main Air Station (Norway).

Contents

[edit] Controversy

The fleet of E-3's has remained in operation since the cold war and has adapted its mission to emerging security threats, primarily in European airspace. Despite stringent self-imposed flight restrictions, including conducting a significant portion of training flights at different airfields throughout Europe and North America, E-3A operations in Geilenkirchen cause, according to a recent study by the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, 'severe noise pollution' [1] affecting over 40.000 citizens of Parkstad Limburg across the nearby German-Dutch border.[2][3] The Dutch government has asked for a mid-life upgrade of the AWACS fleet to include upgrading the engines to make the fleet meet the maximum noise levels allowed for civilian air traffic.[4] However, NATO has not yet committed to the expensive investment. [5] Despite the economic importance for the German region near, and the strategic importance for NATO of, the base, the Dutch lowerhouse has adopted a motion to restrict the AWACS from Dutch airspace unless new engines are installed. [6]

[edit] Equipment

The 20 aircraft of the NATO AEW Force are all registered to Luxembourg:

50°57′38″N 6°2′32″E / 50.96056, 6.04222 (Geilenkirchen)

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ draft RIVM report
  2. ^ Tienduizenden Limburgers ervaren overlast Awacs
  3. ^ Deafening Din of the Awacs Rouses the Folk Next Door
  4. ^ Request of Dutch government to EU concerning noise nuisance of AWACS
  5. ^ Kamer: Awacs moeten stiller
  6. ^ AWACS-dossier
  7. ^ a b NATO military aviation OrBat
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