Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base


Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base is a Kuwait Air Force base that is home to 3 Kuwait Air Force F/A-18 C/D squadrons: 9 Squadron, 25 Squadron, and 61 Squadron. The base also has an area designated for operations by the U.S. Air Force and its allies.

History

Sitting 75 miles south of the Iraqi border, the base has supported active duty United States Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II and General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter units, along with support individuals, rotated in and out. At Al-Jaber AB, the 332 ELS Commander and 10 personnel were on one-year tours; all others rotated every 90 to 120 days.
On 1 December 1998, the 4406th Operations Group at Al-Jaber Air Base inactivated and the 332nd Air Expeditionary Group activated.
According to USA Today on 22 October 2003 the US Ambassador to Kuwait, Richard Jones, announced that the United States was reducing its presence at Al-Jaber with the intent of fully reducing its forces at that location. USAF assets remaining in Kuwait are primarily stationed at Ali Al Salem Air Base.
The U.S. side of the base was re-opened during 2014 sometime before October.
From 22 November 2014 four Panavia Tornados from 6º Stormo of the Italian Air Force deployed there for an unknown amount of time along with a Boeing KC-767A from 14º Stormo.
Between 15 October 2014 and 30 September 2015 the Royal Danish Air Force deployed seven General Dynamics F-16AM Fighting Falcons with four being operational and three others in a reserve capacity.

Role and operations

Kuwait Air Force

The base is home to the Kuwait Air Force's entire fleet of fighter/attack aircraft. Two front-line and one training unit operate a fleet of McDonnell Douglas KAF-18C/D Hornets. The aircraft is a twin-engine, supersonic, all-weather, multirole combat jet, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft.

Military intervention against ISIL

Ahmad al-Jaber hosts the United States Air Force's 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, which moved to the base on May 2016. The 332 ARW provides a wide range combat capabilities including aerial-refueling, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, space, combat search and rescue, and precision strike, all in support of the military intervention against ISIL/ISIS and wider military operations in the Middle East. A wide range of US Air Force aircraft have been deployed at Ahmad al-Jaber, including F-15E Strike Eagle, MQ-9A Reaper, and KC-135R Stratotanker as well as HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters.
The United States Marines has also operated from the base, flying the MV-22B Osprey,; EA-6B Prowler, AV-8B Harrier II and KC-130J Hercules.

Based units

Notable units based at Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base.

Kuwait Air Force

Air Combat Command