Kandahar Air Field

• Introduction
• Resources
• See also:

Introduction

Kandahar Air Field has been the base for the ADF Ch-47 Chinook Helicopter detachment since March 2006. The two Chinooks were withdrawn in early 2007 for refurbishing, and the helicopters and crew returned to Australia in April 2007. In February 2008 the aircraft and crew re-deployed to Kandahar. RAAF Mobile Control and Reporting Unit deployed to Kandahar Air Field mid-2007, and was established as the RAAF Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) in August 2007. In April 2007 the Australian government announced its intention to deploy an RAAF air surveillance radar capability to Kandahar. A detachment from 114 Mobile Control and Reporting Unit RAAF based in Darwin, from the Surveillance and Response Group will deploy to Kandahar Air Field. 114MRCU is equipped with AN/TPS-77 mobile phased array radar. In August the RAAF Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) took over control of Kandahar airspace from the United States.

Resources

Kandahar / Qandahar Airfield

Firebase Gecko

31°30'21"N 65°50'52"E, GlobalSecurity.org

Detailed account of the airfield, its history and development and present role, photos and satellite imagery.

Source: Google Earth

Kandahar Airfield, Uruzgan Weblog [compendium, updated frequently].

Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation

Detailed current technical information, photos and map. "Airfield is 10 miles (16 km) SE of Kandahar, just west of Kandahar-spin Baldak road, 43 miles (69 km) NW of Pakistan border, and 96 miles (154 km) NW of Quetta Pakistan. Airfield is sometimes difficult to locate from the air due to a lack of contrast with ground and usual dust and haze in area." Location: N31° 30' 49.10", E65° 51' 39.80"

Kandahar Air Base [Google Earth*]

* Google Earth (free download) required.

Kandahar Airfield Satellite Imagery, GlobalSecurity.org

Airfield maps, and US military satellite imagery before and after 2001 attacks.

Kandahar City Map, AIMS, February 2005 [273KB-PDF]

Kandahar Area (topographic map in Russian) Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection

Portion of Soviet General Staff map H-41-VI 1985 (776K), original scale 1:200,000.

RAF Regiment go on foot to make a difference in Kandahar, Defence News, UK MOD, 29 Aug 06

Useful description local combat conditions and RAF activities.

Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, Sir Duck (blog), March 16, 2006

Good photograph of airfield and town.

Kandahar Airfield, Wikipedia[accessed 2007-03-16]

Uneven brief article with useful data and photos.

See also:

• CH-47 Chinook helicopter detachment
• Kandahar Mobile Control and Reporting Unit
• Coalition forces: Canada
• Kandahar Province and Kandahar City