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Road runway
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Road runway
A road runway or road base or highway airstrip (US), is a section of an automotive public road, highway, motorway, or similar, that is specially built (or adapted) to act as a runway for (primarily) military aircraft, and to serve as an emergency or auxiliary military airbase. These road runways allow military aircraft to continue operating even if the runway at their respective airbases (some of the most high-priority targets in any war) are degraded, damaged, or destroyed.
The first road runways were constructed towards the end of World War II in Nazi Germany, where the well-developed Reichsautobahn system allowed their military aircraft to use their motorways. During the Cold War, road runways were systematically built on both sides of the Iron Curtain, in many cases in response to the Six Day War and Operation Focus in 1967, where the Israeli Air Force in a surprise air strike disabled many of their opponents' air bases in just a few hours. Countries which have built road runways include both West and East Germany, Singapore, North Korea, Taiwan, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria, Switzerland (military significance), Poland, India, Pakistan, and Czechoslovakia.
The road runways are typically 2 to 3.5 kilometres (1.2 to 2.2 miles) straight sections of the road or highway, where any central reservation is made of crash barriers that can be removed quickly (in order to allow aeroplanes to use the whole width of the road). Other features of an airbase (taxiways, aircraft parking aprons) may also be built. The road will need a thicker-than-normal surface and a solid concrete base. The specialised equipment of a typical airfield are stored somewhere nearby, and only moved to the road runway when airfield operations start. The road runways can be converted from motorways to airbases typically within 24-to-48 hours. The road would need to be swept to remove any FOD debris before use by aircraft. Road runways can however also be quite small; the short runways built in the Swedish Bas 90 system are commonly only 800 metres (2,600 feet) in length. The STOL-capability of the Viggen and Gripen allowed for such short runways. In the case of Finnish road airbases, the space needed for landing aircraft is reduced by means of a wire, similar to the CATOBAR system used on some aircraft carriers.
A number of countries around the world utilise the strategy of highways constructed to double as auxiliary runways for nearby airbases in the event of war.
While not designed for military use, in outback Australia, some sections of highway are maintained as emergency runways for use by the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).
In Glamoč, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the M15 road was used as a military airstrip. There is a clear example of how the road was widened for the needs of aeroplane landing.
In 1989, China conducted its first road runway drills. They have since been conducted at later dates, and in different areas of the country.[citation needed] In 2014, Chinese forces landed military aircraft[which?] on a road runway in Henan province for the first time.
After the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, three road runways were built in the Greek part of Cyprus, easily recognisable by a runway centre line and markings for the touchdown zone. They also have aircraft turning areas at either end. One is located on the A1 Limassol–Nicosia highway (5,200 metres (17,100 feet)) and one near the western end of the A5 Limassol–Larnaca highway (5,000 metres (16,000 feet)). The third is a much smaller strip located on the A6 Limassol-Paphos highway near to Paphos International Airport.
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Road runway
A road runway or road base or highway airstrip (US), is a section of an automotive public road, highway, motorway, or similar, that is specially built (or adapted) to act as a runway for (primarily) military aircraft, and to serve as an emergency or auxiliary military airbase. These road runways allow military aircraft to continue operating even if the runway at their respective airbases (some of the most high-priority targets in any war) are degraded, damaged, or destroyed.
The first road runways were constructed towards the end of World War II in Nazi Germany, where the well-developed Reichsautobahn system allowed their military aircraft to use their motorways. During the Cold War, road runways were systematically built on both sides of the Iron Curtain, in many cases in response to the Six Day War and Operation Focus in 1967, where the Israeli Air Force in a surprise air strike disabled many of their opponents' air bases in just a few hours. Countries which have built road runways include both West and East Germany, Singapore, North Korea, Taiwan, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria, Switzerland (military significance), Poland, India, Pakistan, and Czechoslovakia.
The road runways are typically 2 to 3.5 kilometres (1.2 to 2.2 miles) straight sections of the road or highway, where any central reservation is made of crash barriers that can be removed quickly (in order to allow aeroplanes to use the whole width of the road). Other features of an airbase (taxiways, aircraft parking aprons) may also be built. The road will need a thicker-than-normal surface and a solid concrete base. The specialised equipment of a typical airfield are stored somewhere nearby, and only moved to the road runway when airfield operations start. The road runways can be converted from motorways to airbases typically within 24-to-48 hours. The road would need to be swept to remove any FOD debris before use by aircraft. Road runways can however also be quite small; the short runways built in the Swedish Bas 90 system are commonly only 800 metres (2,600 feet) in length. The STOL-capability of the Viggen and Gripen allowed for such short runways. In the case of Finnish road airbases, the space needed for landing aircraft is reduced by means of a wire, similar to the CATOBAR system used on some aircraft carriers.
A number of countries around the world utilise the strategy of highways constructed to double as auxiliary runways for nearby airbases in the event of war.
While not designed for military use, in outback Australia, some sections of highway are maintained as emergency runways for use by the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).
In Glamoč, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the M15 road was used as a military airstrip. There is a clear example of how the road was widened for the needs of aeroplane landing.
In 1989, China conducted its first road runway drills. They have since been conducted at later dates, and in different areas of the country.[citation needed] In 2014, Chinese forces landed military aircraft[which?] on a road runway in Henan province for the first time.
After the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, three road runways were built in the Greek part of Cyprus, easily recognisable by a runway centre line and markings for the touchdown zone. They also have aircraft turning areas at either end. One is located on the A1 Limassol–Nicosia highway (5,200 metres (17,100 feet)) and one near the western end of the A5 Limassol–Larnaca highway (5,000 metres (16,000 feet)). The third is a much smaller strip located on the A6 Limassol-Paphos highway near to Paphos International Airport.
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