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approximately 2:30 a.m. EDT on 5 September 2002. Aircraft dropped precision-guided bombs on the H3 airfield. The strikes were carried out by nine
American F-15 Strike Eagles and three RAF Tornado GR4 ground attack aircraft flying from Kuwait. The attack on the air defence command and control facility was the first time that a target in western Iraq had been attacked during the patrols of the southern no-fly zone. According to press reports, about 100 US and British aircraft took part in the attack, making it the biggest single operation over the country in four years.
600:. Chemical weapons were stored at the H-3 airfield (main) during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 according to declassified U.S. intelligence reports which describe Iraqi efforts to disperse chemical weapons by truck to other locations. The S-shaped bunker located at H-3 airfield (main) and the four at the H-3 ammunition storage facility were damaged or destroyed during Desert Storm. Of the 22 S-shaped bunkers located across Iraq, 10 had been destroyed as of 8 February 1991. It is not known whether the rest were subsequently destroyed.
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In response to Iraqi hostile acts against coalition aircraft monitoring the
Southern No-Fly Zone, Operation Southern Watch coalition aircraft used precision-guided weapons to strike an air defense command and control facility at a military airfield 240 miles west and slightly south of Baghdad, at
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The protection of each HAS consisted of one meter thick concrete shells, reinforced by 30 cm thick steel plates. There was only one entrance and this was covered by sliding doors, made of 50 cm thick steel armoured plate and concrete. The HAS' were usually built in small groups – seldom
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Current aerial imagery shows that the operational structures around the airfield and its three auxiliary airfields appear to be largely intact. The taxiways at the airfields remain exposed to the elements. The use of runways is interdicted by a series of obstacles, including unusable airframes.
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and H-3 Air Base. They set up observation posts and called in airstrikes that defeated the minimal Iraqi resistance around H-2. The combined
British and Australian squadrons then drove straight onto H-2 virtually unopposed. H-3 airbase was defended by a battalion of Iraqi troops and significant
517:
Companies from
Yugoslavia – previously engaged in building bridges in Iraq – became involved in airfield construction. Due to their specific construction of these airfields – which included taxi-ways leading right out of Hardened Aircraft Shelters (HAS) and laid diagonally to the runways – they
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bombers. Two Iraqi pilots and fourteen personnel were killed, together with three
Egyptian and an East German officer, while 19 Iraqis, four Egyptians, and two Jordanians were badly injured. This strike considerably degraded Iraq's capability to retaliate.
638:. Together they called in a constant 24 hours of precision airstrikes on H-3, forcing the Iraqi defenders to flee. The Coalition SOF secured H-3 and seized around 80 assorted anti aircraft cannon guns and an enormous amount of ammunition. A company of
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AN ACCOUNT OF THE CONSTRUCTION IN THE YEARS 1932 TO 1934 OF THE PIPELINE OF THE IRAQ PETROLEUM COMPANY LIMITED FROM ITS OILFIELD IN THE VICINITY OF KIRKUK TO THE MEDITERRANEAN PORTS OF HAIFA (Palestine) and TRIPOLI
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more than five, with each group sharing the same water and power supply, besides having own backup gasoline-powered electrical generator, and each HAS being equipped with a semi-automatic aircraft-refueling system.
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F-4 Phantoms flew their boldest interdiction strike of the war, penetrating over 1,000 km into Iraq in order to attack all three airfields of the H-3 complex.
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During the 1970s, it was one of several Iraqi airfields upgraded under project "Super-Base" in response to the experiences from Arab-Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973.
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During the winter of 1980–1981, Iraqi Air Force kept back its military airplanes in H-3 base to protect them from
Iranian Air Force Attacks. So the
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flew from Jordan to reinforce the air bases, the
Coalition SOF handed the bases over to their control and proceeded with their other missions.
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numbers of mobile and static anti aircraft guns. The
British and Australian SAS were joined by members of Delta Force and on 24 March by
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Achieving complete surprise, the
Iranians made several passes against Al-Walid, H-3 Northwest and H-3 Southwest ABs, destroying three
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became priority targets for coalition aircraft during the Gulf War. The airfield was targeted by different types of aircraft, from
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467:. H-3 Southwest is served by a single 9,700-foot runway and has a parallel taxiway that could be used as an alternate runway.
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Fire in the Hills: Iranian and Iraqi
Battles of Autumn 1982, by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, 9 Sept. 2003
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575:(delivered only weeks earlier), as well as damaging eleven others beyond repair, including two
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in western Iraq. It is close to the Syrian–Iraqi border, and near the highway that connects
828:. Rushden, Northamptonshire, England: Forces & Corporate Publishing Ltd. p. 664.
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336:. H3 is located in a remote stretch of Iraq's western desert, about 435 kilometers from
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Desert Storm Air War: The Aerial Campaign against Saddam's Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War
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IN EVERY PLACE: The RAF Armoured Cars in the Middle East 1921–1953
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devised an operation to bomb the air base. On 4 April 1981, eight
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the pumping station and adjacent oil pipeline were patrolled by
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H-3 Main is supported by two dispersal airfields, H-3 Southwest
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based at H3 and RAF aircraft would have used the airstrip.
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in 1935 as a landing ground for pumping station H3 on the
324:(code-named 202C, 202D) is part of a cluster of former
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Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military)
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853:Royal Air Force stations in the Middle East
617:On 18 March 2003, B and D Squadrons of the
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518:became known as "Trapezoids" or "Yugos".
778:. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 81.
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634:ODAs from Bravo company, 1st Battalion
621:infiltrated Iraq along with 1 Squadron
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712:Cooper, Tom; Bishop, Farzad (2000).
584:Operation Desert Storm and the 1990s
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47:Camp Korean Village/Camp "KV" (USMC)
714:Iran-Iraq War in the Air, 1980–1988
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494:(RAF) air base although during
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824:Warwick, Nigel W. M. (2014).
810:, pp. 111–112, 118–119, 127
311:GPX (secondary coordinates)
265:undetermined (closed)
254:undetermined (closed)
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802:, Osprey Publishing, 2015
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722:Schiffer Military History
619:British 22nd SAS Regiment
306:GPX (primary coordinates)
281:Map all coordinates using
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27:Military airfield in Iraq
671:Iraq Petroleum Company,
485:Mosul–Haifa oil pipeline
289:Download coordinates as:
99:Location of H-3 Air Base
56:Al-Anbar Province, Iraq
642:and Royal Marines from
490:It was never a British
479:was established by the
221:Operation Iraqi Freedom
68:H-3 Main Air Base, 1995
774:Corrigan, Jim (2017).
761:22 August 2014 at the
594:F-117 stealth fighters
481:Iraq Petroleum Company
217:Operation Desert Storm
858:Iraqi Air Force bases
447:32.84861°N 39.30778°E
407:33.07611°N 39.59778°E
367:32.74667°N 39.59972°E
301:GPX (all coordinates)
130:32.92944°N 39.74389°E
724:. pp. 248–249.
718:Atglen, Pennsylvania
502:, together with RAF
387:, and H-3 Northwest
330:Al-Anbar Governorate
227:Airfield information
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452:32.84861; 39.30778
412:33.07611; 39.59778
372:32.74667; 39.59972
246:Length and surface
135:32.92944; 39.74389
835:978-0-9574725-2-5
808:978-1-4728-0790-8
571:, and two Mirage
538:Iranian Air Force
500:RAF Armoured Cars
458:H-3 Highway Strip
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322:H-3 Air Base
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209:World War II
205:Battles/wars
177:Site history
159:Open to
93:H-3 Air Base
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35:H-3 Air Base
29:
644:45 Commando
632:Green Beret
596:to US Navy
504:Iraq Levies
450: /
437:039°18′28″E
410: /
397:039°35′52″E
370: /
357:039°35′59″E
200:1935 - 2003
197:In use
133: /
120:039°44′38″E
108:Coordinates
18:H-3 airbase
847:Categories
818:References
740:2002110491
731:0764316699
456: (
434:32°50′55″N
416: (
394:33°04′34″N
376: (
354:32°44′48″N
139: (
117:32°55′46″N
702:, pg. 333
698:Warwick,
689:, pg. 271
685:Warwick,
674:(Lebanon)
242:Direction
172:Abandoned
169:Condition
759:Archived
588:H-3 and
567:, eight
477:airstrip
267:Concrete
256:Concrete
640:Rangers
636:5th SFG
613:Seizure
569:Mig-23s
559:, five
557:MiG-21s
555:, four
471:History
338:Baghdad
236:Runways
187: (
832:
806:
782:
738:
728:
573:F-1EQs
551:, one
549:AN-12s
342:Jordan
141:H-3 AB
659:Notes
577:Tu-16
561:Su-20
553:Tu-16
542:IRIAF
262:11/29
251:10/24
182:Built
830:ISBN
804:ISBN
780:ISBN
736:LCCN
726:ISBN
475:H-3
334:Iraq
189:1935
185:1935
627:H-2
590:H-2
565:22s
332:of
296:KML
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748:^
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164:No
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20:)
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