Lajes Airbase in the Azores islands, Portugal

An Airbase, sometimes referred to as a military airport or airfield, provides basing and support of military aircraft. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2400x3000, 1644 KB) An overview of Air Base 4, home of the 1605th Military Airlift Support Wing. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2400x3000, 1644 KB) An overview of Air Base 4, home of the 1605th Military Airlift Support Wing. ... Motto (Portuguese for Rather die free than in peace subjugated) Anthem  (national)  (local) Capital Ponta Delgada1 Angra do Heroísmo2 Horta3 Largest city Ponta Delgada Official languages Portuguese Government Autonomous region  -  President Carlos César Establishment  -  Settled 1439   -  Autonomy 1976  Area  -  Total 2,333 km² (n/a) 911 sq mi... “Flying Machine” redirects here. ...

The United States Air Force and its components (Air Force Reserve & Air National Guard) calls 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 signifigance (Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan; Edwards Air Force Base, California; General Mitchell Air Reserve Base, Wisconson). Those with very little or no flying 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 Base, and are usually names after the city or region where they're located (e.g. Spandalhem Air Base, Germany). The U.S. Army calles their air bases Army Airfields, and like the Air Force, name most of them after a military figure (Polk Army Airfield, Louisiana; Biggs Army Airfield, TX). The U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard calles their air bases Air Stations and generally name them after the area where they're located (Pensacola Naval Air Station, Florida; Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, North Carolina; Kodiak Coast Guard Air Station, Alaska).

Some airbases provide facilities very like civilian airports. For example, RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, England has a terminal which caters for passengers for the Royal Air Force's scheduled flights, e.g. the Tristar to the Falkland Islands. RAF Brize Norton is a Royal Air Force station in Oxfordshire about 50 miles west of London, England, United Kingdom. ... Oxfordshire (abbreviated Oxon, from the Latinised form Oxonia) is a county in the South East of England, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... “RAF” redirects here. ... The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, commonly referred to as just L-1011 (pronounced ell-ten-eleven), was the third widebody passenger jet airliner to enter operation, following the Boeing 747 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10. ...

Some airbases are built underground. For example, Slatina airport. Slatina airport near Pristina was the second largest underground airport in former Yugoslavia. ...

Other structures and equipment are specific to military airfields, e.g.:

• Anti-aircraft weapons, e.g. surface-to-air missiles, to protect from air attack.
• Hardened Aircraft Shelters to protect individual aircraft from aerial strikes.

Akash Missile Firing French Air Force Crotale battery Bendix Rim-8 Talos surface to air missile of the US Navy A surface-to-air missile (SAM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft. ... A Hardened Aircraft Shelter (HAS), or Protective Aircraft Shelter (PAS), is a structure which houses and protects military aircraft from enemy attack. ...

Road airbase

Road airbases are highways constructed to double as auxiliary airbases in the event of war. Nations known to utilise this strategy are Sweden [1] (vägbas, literally meaning "road base"), Finland (maantietukikohta) and Germany. 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.[2] This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery) is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier. ...

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a type of naval ship which serves as a seaborne airbase, the development of them 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. Recent examples of their use includes the Iraq war and the military operations to remove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan. Four aircraft carriers, (bottom-to-top) Principe de Asturias, amphibious assault carrier USS Wasp, USS Forrestal and light V/STOL carrier HMS Invincible, showing size differences of late 20th century carriers An aircraft carrier is a warship designed to deploy and in most cases recover aircraft, acting as a sea... HMS Invincible, a British Invincible-class aircraft carrier USS Port Royal (CG-73), an American Ticonderoga class cruiser HMCS Algonquin, a Canadian Iroquois-class destroyer HMAS Darwin, an Australian Adelaide-class frigate A naval ship is a ship (or sometimes boat, depending on classification) used for combat purposes, commonly by... An air force, in some countries called an air army, is a military or armed service that primarily conducts aerial warfare. ... For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ... The Taliban (Pashto: , also anglicized as Taleban) are a Sunni Muslim Pashtun movement that ruled most of Afghanistan from 1995 until 2001, when their leaders were removed from power by a cooperative military effort between the United States, United Kingdom and the Northern Alliance. ...

See also

• List of RAF stations
• List of Royal Canadian Air Force stations
• List of United States Air Force installations
• Airstrip
• Air force base