An airbase (sometimes referred to as an airfield, military airport, air force station or air force base) is a military aerodrome that provides basing and support of military aircraft.
They are different from civilian airports in that they do not provide for large volume of passenger transits, and cargo handling is not processed by the customs and immigration facilities. Some military air forces combine use of civilian airports with the hosting of military units.
However, military aircraft usually use substantially different support equipment, and require facilities sufficiently isolated from civilian operations for issues of aviation safety involving the aircraft ordnance.
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While some airfields provide facilities very like civilian airports, for example RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, England which has a terminal which caters for passengers for the Royal Air Force's scheduled flights, e.g., the TriStar to the Falkland Islands, most do not. Most military airfields are located remotely from populated areas because of the ever-present potential of in-flight accidents that may cause a crash and significant infliction of damage and casualties on civilian population.
However, owing to growth of urban centres, many military airfields built during the Second World War are now located on the outskirts of large cities, and lack of required remoteness has cause constraints on flight operations to be introduced because of the noise pollution generated by the operation of military aircraft, such as night flying restrictions.
The airbase operation is generally organised around its operational areas divided into the air command operations, air traffic control operations which are either towered or non-towered based, runways, taxiways, and ramps used in military operations to dislocate troops to be airlifted, or to stockpile cargo for loading. Refuelling is conducted in the pre-flight and inspection area.
More substantial maintenance and repair is conducted in the squadron maintenance operations, usually in or close to their squadron hangars which are usually Hardened Aircraft Shelters to protect individual aircraft from air strikes. Maintenance is also carried out in the intermediate maintenance operations or the depot maintenance operations areas, the latter usually concerned with more substantial structural work such as changing an engine, crash repair, or field upgrades. A large part of the airbase surface is devoted to the maneuvering area used by aircraft to move around the different areas as they return from an air mission or prepare for one.
Military flight operations often require a higher level of airbase security, and in recent years, many countries have adopted higher levels of security because of threats of terrorist attacks. This security in wartime is augmented by basing of air defence systems and their units, usually on the periphery of the airbase, which use anti-aircraft weapons such as surface-to-air missiles and their fire control radars, to protect from air attack. Other units located at the military airbase may be runway repair troops.
Some airfields are built underground, such as Željava Air Base in the border of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Royal Air Force (RAF) call their bases "Royal Air Force station", followed by the station name. This is often abbreviated into "RAF" plus the name, e.g. RAF Marham. They are generally named after the closest railway station as rail travel was the main means of transport for service personnel in the early days of the RAF. Many RAF stations have long since lost their local railway station. Other bases were named after the local village, or used the name of the building in which they resided, such as RAF Bentley Priory, or country (e.g. RAF Belize). There is no difference in nomenclature for non-flying RAF stations, and overseas RAF stations have followed the same principles.
The aviation division of the Royal Navy, the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) generally follow the same principles of naming as the RAF, but are instead prefixed with Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS), such as RNAS Yeovilton. However, in maintaining the maritime link, all Royal Navy air stations are additionally named in the same manner as the Navy's ships - in Yeoviltons' instance, it is also called HMS Heron.
The British Army Air Corps have previously used the term "Airfield", preceded by the local name, for example Wattisham Airfield. However, as the majority of current Army airfields are former RAF stations, they now precede the locality name with "Army Air Corps" (AAC), for example AAC Middle Wallop.
The British Coast Guard, Her Majesty's Coastguard, generally do not have their own dedicated airfields. Most HMCG aircraft are usually operated from a "host" airfield, which may be either military or civil.
The United States Air Force, and its components (Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard) call their bases Air Force Bases, Air Reserve Bases, or Air National Guard Bases; most of them are named after a person of military or governmental significance (e.g., Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan; Edwards Air Force Base, California; General Mitchell Air Reserve Base, Wisconsin).
Those with very little or no flight activity are called Air Force Stations (e.g., Jackson Barracks Air Guard Station, Louisiana; Onizuka Air Force Station, California).
Air Force Bases located in other countries are called Air Bases, and are usually named after the city or region where they're located (e.g., Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany).
The United States Army calls its air bases Army Airfields, and, like the Air Force, names most of them after a military figure (e.g., Polk Army Airfield, Louisiana; Biggs Army Airfield, TX).
The United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Coast Guard call their air bases Air Stations and generally name them after the area where they're located (e.g., Pensacola Naval Air Station, Florida; Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, North Carolina; Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina).
Road airbases are highways constructed to double as auxiliary airbases in the event of war. Nations known to utilise this strategy are Sweden [1], Finland, Germany, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey and Poland. In the case of Finnish road airbases, the space needed for landing aircraft is reduced by means of an arrestor wire, similar to that used on some aircraft carriers.[2]
See also: Unsinkable aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a type of naval ship which serves as a seaborne airbase, the development of which has greatly enhanced the capabilities of modern air forces. They are now a key part of the military, allowing for military aircraft to be staged much nearer the theatre of conflict. Aircraft carriers were vital to the United States during World War II and to the United Kingdom in the 1982 Falklands War.
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