Recent from talks
Al-Taqaddum Air Base
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Al-Taqaddum Air Base
Al Taqaddum Airbase (Arabic: قاعدة التقدم الجوية) or Al Taqaddum AB (IATA: TQD, ICAO: ORAT), called TQ in military shorthand slang, is an air base that is located in central Iraq, approximately 74 kilometers (46 miles) west of Baghdad, at Habbaniyah. The airfield is served by two runways 13,000 and 12,000 feet (3,700 m) long. Since 2004, it has been known as Camp Taqaddum. ("Taqaddum" is an Arabic word which means "progress".) It was formerly known as Tammuz Airbase.
The airbase was originally built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1952 as the subsidiary Plateau Airfield of nearby RAF Habbaniya, whose runway was inadequate for the larger long range and jet aircraft being introduced. The original RAF runway was subsequently extended by the Iraqis and a parallel runway added. Some of the RAF buildings (Nissen huts) were still standing in 2003.
Al Taqaddum Airbase was known as "Tammuz Airbase" (Tammuz being the Assyrian month that the 14 July revolution happened in Iraq), and various Iraqi Air Force units and squadrons used it.
The airbase was bombed in Operation Kaman 99, the day after the beginning of the Iran–Iraq War.
Units and squadrons present before 2003:
Fifty-one different Iraqi Air Force aircraft were found hidden under camouflage nets near al-Taqaddum by the Australian Special Air Service. Although still only scant details are known about these aircraft, US and British military sources reported that these 51 aircraft included three MiG-25s (including a single MiG-25PU two-seater), a Su-25K and a Su-7U, a MiG-29, several F-7Bs and Su-22UM-3Ks, as well as one Ilushin Il-76 transport.
U.S. forces also found the hulks of five remaining Iraqi Tupolev Tu-22B "Blinder" supersonic bombers. All were still sitting in the revetments where they had been hit and destroyed by Coalition air attacks in 1991. Near them the wreckage of the Adnan-1 AEW aircraft, a third example was found, also destroyed by air attacks in 1991, as well as the wreck of the last Iraqi Tu-16 or H-6D bomber, which survived 1991, and was made operational in 2000 again: this old bomber was observed in flight – together with the sole surviving Iraqi Su-24MK – as late as February 2003, but was then obviously hit by US air strikes.
The last Iraqi Su-24MK was apparently captured intact, and there are rumours that it was meanwhile flown to the US as well. Another rarity reported to have survived the war at al-Taqaddum were several Ilyushin Il-28 "Beagle" bombers, including one Il-28U training aircraft. Supplied to the IrAF in 1960, this aircraft must have certainly seen quite some service history: they were used during the extensive campaigns against Kurdish rebels, in the 1960s, mid-1970s, and mid-1980s during the war against Iran.
Hub AI
Al-Taqaddum Air Base AI simulator
(@Al-Taqaddum Air Base_simulator)
Al-Taqaddum Air Base
Al Taqaddum Airbase (Arabic: قاعدة التقدم الجوية) or Al Taqaddum AB (IATA: TQD, ICAO: ORAT), called TQ in military shorthand slang, is an air base that is located in central Iraq, approximately 74 kilometers (46 miles) west of Baghdad, at Habbaniyah. The airfield is served by two runways 13,000 and 12,000 feet (3,700 m) long. Since 2004, it has been known as Camp Taqaddum. ("Taqaddum" is an Arabic word which means "progress".) It was formerly known as Tammuz Airbase.
The airbase was originally built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1952 as the subsidiary Plateau Airfield of nearby RAF Habbaniya, whose runway was inadequate for the larger long range and jet aircraft being introduced. The original RAF runway was subsequently extended by the Iraqis and a parallel runway added. Some of the RAF buildings (Nissen huts) were still standing in 2003.
Al Taqaddum Airbase was known as "Tammuz Airbase" (Tammuz being the Assyrian month that the 14 July revolution happened in Iraq), and various Iraqi Air Force units and squadrons used it.
The airbase was bombed in Operation Kaman 99, the day after the beginning of the Iran–Iraq War.
Units and squadrons present before 2003:
Fifty-one different Iraqi Air Force aircraft were found hidden under camouflage nets near al-Taqaddum by the Australian Special Air Service. Although still only scant details are known about these aircraft, US and British military sources reported that these 51 aircraft included three MiG-25s (including a single MiG-25PU two-seater), a Su-25K and a Su-7U, a MiG-29, several F-7Bs and Su-22UM-3Ks, as well as one Ilushin Il-76 transport.
U.S. forces also found the hulks of five remaining Iraqi Tupolev Tu-22B "Blinder" supersonic bombers. All were still sitting in the revetments where they had been hit and destroyed by Coalition air attacks in 1991. Near them the wreckage of the Adnan-1 AEW aircraft, a third example was found, also destroyed by air attacks in 1991, as well as the wreck of the last Iraqi Tu-16 or H-6D bomber, which survived 1991, and was made operational in 2000 again: this old bomber was observed in flight – together with the sole surviving Iraqi Su-24MK – as late as February 2003, but was then obviously hit by US air strikes.
The last Iraqi Su-24MK was apparently captured intact, and there are rumours that it was meanwhile flown to the US as well. Another rarity reported to have survived the war at al-Taqaddum were several Ilyushin Il-28 "Beagle" bombers, including one Il-28U training aircraft. Supplied to the IrAF in 1960, this aircraft must have certainly seen quite some service history: they were used during the extensive campaigns against Kurdish rebels, in the 1960s, mid-1970s, and mid-1980s during the war against Iran.
Recent media