King Faisal Air Base (Jordan)

King Faisal Air Base (ICAO: OJKF; Arabic: مجموعة الملك فيصل بن عبد العزيز الجوية) is a Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) installation near the town of Al-Jafr, Ma'an Governorate.

King Faisal Air Base
مجموعة الملك فيصل بن عبد العزيز الجوية
Near Al-Jafr, Ma'an Governorate in Jordan
A U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J Hercules takes off from King Faisal Air Base during Exercise Eager Lion, June 2013
King Faisal Air Base Shown within Jordan
Coordinates	30°20.589′N 036°08.856′E
Type	Air Base
Site information
Operator	Royal Jordanian Air Force
Website	King Faisal Air Base
Site history
Built	1974–1981
In use	1981 (1981)–present
Airfield information
Identifiers	ICAO: OJKF
Elevation	873 metres (2,864 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 11/29 3,600 metres (11,811 ft) Paved
Sources: AIP Jordan,[1] TPC H-5B[2]

Name

The installation is named for King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, who financed the base's construction.^[3]

History

Construction for the base began in 1974, with the first aircraft landing on 27 November 1980. The base was officially opened by King Hussein of Jordan on 24 June 1981.^[3]

A 1983 report indicated that the base was used to assemble parts of Chinese Shenyang J-6 fighter aircraft for subsequent delivery to Iraq.^[4]

In 1987, Syrian president Hafez Assad and Iraqi president Saddam Hussein flew to the base to have a meeting in the nearby town Al-Jafr amidst the Iran–Iraq War.^[5]

In October 1996, the airfield was used by an Antonov An-124 to fly in the ThrustSSC jet car for testing in the desert near Al-Jafr.^[6]

On 4 November 2016, a Jordanian guard shot and killed three American soldiers and wounded another while they were returning to the base.^[7]

Exercises

U.S. troops board a C-141 Starlifter during Exercise Bright Star '87 at the base.

The base frequently hosts military exercises,^[3][8] a practice going back as far as the 1980s. Among the exercises that have been hosted at the base are Exercise Bright Star and Exercise Eager Lion.^[9][10][11]

References

1. "AIP Jordan Supplement 2/20, Location Indicators" (PDF). Jordan Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission. 16 July 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
2. TPC H-5B (JPG) (Aeronautical map) (5th ed.). 1:500,000. Tactical Pilotage Chart. United Kingdom: Ministry of Defence. 1991 – via Perry–Castañeda Library.
3. "King Feisal Air Base". Royal Jordanian Air Force. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
4. Chapin Metz, Helen, ed. (1991). Jordan: A Country Study (PDF) (4th ed.). Federal Research Division. pp. 264–265. Retrieved 22 February 2024 – via Library of Congress.
5. Anderson, Jack; van Atta, Dale (9 June 1987). "Syrian, Iraqi Leaders Confer At Last". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
6. "Greene readies for speed try". The Post-Star. 27 October 1996. p. D2. Retrieved 22 February 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
7. Philipps, Dave; Hubbard, Ben (25 July 2017). "U.S. Soldier Who Survived Shootout in Jordan Tells His Story". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
8. Heighton, Craig (28 July 1995). "Shaw team trains with Jordanians". Panama City Gulf Defender. p. 11.
9. "Jordan, U.S. complete maneuvers". Sun Journal. 21 September 1992. p. 22. Retrieved 14 March 2024 – via Google News Archive.
10. Fisher, Robert (5 June 2012). "24th MEU Air Traffic Controllers Run the Tower during Exercise Eager Lion 12". 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
11. Collins, Tiffany (19 May 2015). "Eager Lion 2015 is a first for Jordan's Strategic Air Deployment". U.S. Special Operations Command Central. Retrieved 24 February 2024 – via DVIDS.