| Taszár Air Base | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: none – ICAO: LHTA | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Military | ||
| Location | Taszár, Hungary | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 156 m / 512 ft | ||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| 16/34 | 2,500 | 8,202 | Concrete |
| Source: HungaryAirport.hu[1] | |||
Taszár Air Base (ICAO: LHTA) is a military air base located near Taszár, a village in Somogy county, Hungary. It is 10 kilometres (5 NM) east of Kaposvár.[1]
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Taszár Air Base was a hungarian airfield during the Cold War, but it became the primary staging post for peacekeeping forces coming and going into the Balkans in December 1995. It was the closest airfield to the Balkans capable of landing strategic aircraft, with good rail and road links.
The base then evolved into the first site for unmanned Predator aircraft missions, a rest and recreation site for Balkan based soldiers, a training ground for armored units and a home base for aircraft that made reconnaissance and bombing runs to stop ethnic-cleansing in Kosovo.
In more recent times it hosted the largest special operations exercise in Europe and served as the site for training the Free Iraqi Forces that would go on to help liberate Iraq. The U.S. flag was lowered on NATO's first military base in former Warsaw Pact territory as the American presence there came to an end in a ceremony on 30 June 2004. The overall successes of the Peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo and the smaller number of soldiers required there eliminated the need for the Taszar facility.
As of April 2011, it is reported "disused". [2]
The air base is at an elevation of 156 metres (512 ft) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 16/34 with an concrete surface measuring 2,500 by 70 metres (8,202 × 230 ft).[1]
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