Kut Al Hayy Air Base

Kut Al Hayy Air Base is a former Iraqi Air Force base in the Maysan Governorate of Iraq. It was captured by Coalition forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

Overview
Kut Al Hayy AB was a primary air base for the Iraqui Air Force. At each end of the main 9,800' runway are a dozen hardened aircraft shelters knowns as "Trapezoids" or "Yugos" which were built by Yugoslavian contractors some time prior to 1985 with multiple runways and taxiways, patterned after their Russian counterparts.

The base was heavily attacked by Coalition airpower during Operation Desert Storm in January 1991. It was abandoned by the Iraqui Air Force after the cease fire in late February.

In March 2003 the base was again sized by the United States Marine Corps during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Marines established "Camp Chesty" at the abandoned base. With a support-base airfield, Camp Chesty was the largest supply depot in the northern most section of central Iraq and supplied all front line troops. The Marines' home to the 7,000 Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based Marines of Task Force Tarawa, the Camp was divided from other areas of the camp by 10-foot high sand berms, which keep them nearly cut off from different battalions, platoons and companies.

As of May 2004 elements of United States Army 1st Armored Division were operating at FOB Delta near al-Kut. Home to the Center South Academy where Coalition forces are training Iraqi soldiers and police.

As of April, 2004 Romanian forces, including Romanian intelligence units, were stationed at Camp Delta. Romanian intelligence units have deployed on site advanced imagery capabilities. Delta is home to human and signals intelligence units and a system of unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles (“UAVs”) which have flown over one hundred reconnaissance missions as of April, 2004. These integrated unit assets are providing timely, actionable intelligence to coalition forces. Soldiers stationed at Camp Delta are able to enjoy hot showers and hot meals.

Sometime after 2006, the facility was turned over to civil engineers who rendered the airfield unserviceable. Large numbers of craters in the runways and taxiways are visible in aerial imagery and numerous areas of concrete have been removed; leaving the airfield useless for any type of aircraft operation.

Today the support base appears abandoned, as well as the concrete runway and series of taxiways remain exposed and deteriorating to the elements, being reclaimed by the desert.