Al Fathah Air Base

Al Fathah Air Base is a former Iraqi Air Force base in the Kirkuk Governorate of Iraq. It was seized by Coalition forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

Overview
Al Fathah Air Base was a primary air base for the Iraqi Air Force prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF). It was one of several Iraqi Air Force airfields in the mid-1970s which were re-built under project "Super-Base" in response to the experiences from Arab-Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973.

Originally, 13 airfields were re-built by British contractors, and on all of them also a number of hardened aircraft shelters was built. Subsequently companies from Yugoslavia - previously engaged in building bridges in Iraq - became involved. Due to their specific construction of these airfields - which included taxi-ways leading right out of Hardened Aircraft Shelters (HAS) and laid diagonally to the runways - they became known as "Trapezoids" or "Yugos".

The facilities were divided into two categories: "surface" and "underground". The "surface" facilities were actually the "softest", and included maintenance hangars of metal construction, and HAS of concrete construction. In total, the Yugoslavs have built no less but 200 HAS on different airfields in Iraq during the 1980s.

The protection of each HAS consisted of one meter thick concrete shells, reinforced by 30 cm thick steel plates. There was only one entrance and this was covered by sliding doors, made of 50 cm thick steel armored plate and concrete. The HAS' were usually built in small groups - seldom more than five, with each group sharing the same water and power supply, besides having own backup gasoline-powered electrical generator, and each HAS being equipped with a semi-automatic aircraft-refueling system.

In addition, underground facilities that could shelter between four and ten aircraft on average were constructed. In order to build these the Yugoslavs used equipment and construction techniques identical to that use in underground oil-storage depots, additionally concealing the extension and the true purpose of the whole project. The underground facilities were all hardened to withstand a direct hit by a tactical nuclear bomb, buried up to 50 m below the ground and consisted of the main aircraft "hangar" (consisting of two floors in several cases, connected by 40ts hydraulic lifts), connected with operations, maintenance, and logistical facilities via a net of underground corridors.

Operation Iraqi Freedom
The base was heavily attacked by Coalition airpower during OEF; aerial imagery shows numerous bomb craters scattered throughout the airfield area, including at least three large craters on the main runway. A large, bombed-out compound of buildings remain.

It was demilitarized by the coalition after the surrender of Saddam Hussein's forces. An estimated two-million net pounds of explosives were abandoned by the Saddam regime, making Al Fathah the largest single weapons cache uncovered by the coalition. In 2004, Army Engineers and Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) personnel destroyed a daily average of 130,000 pounds of confiscated munitions by first burying the munitions and then detonating them in an attempt to reduce the risk of fragmentation fallout on nearby villages.

Operational structures around the airfield appear to have been demolished and removed. Today the concrete runway and series of taxiways remain exposed and deteriorating to the elements.