Ramon Israeli Air Force Base Air Wing 25 | |||||||||
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בסיס חיל-האוויר רמון | |||||||||
Mitzpe Ramon, Southern District in Israel | |||||||||
Coordinates | 30°46′29″N 034°40′04″E / 30.77472°N 34.66778°E | ||||||||
Type | Airbase | ||||||||
Site information | |||||||||
Owner | Israel Defense Forces | ||||||||
Operator | Israeli Air Force | ||||||||
Site history | |||||||||
Built | 1979 | -82||||||||
Built by | US companies | ||||||||
In use | 1982 - present | ||||||||
Airfield information | |||||||||
Identifiers | ICAO: LLRM | ||||||||
Elevation | 648 metres (2,126 ft) AMSL | ||||||||
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Ramon Airbase (Hebrew: בסיס חיל-האוויר רמון (ICAO: LLRM), Basis Hayil-HaAvir Ramon, lit. Ramon Air Force Base) is an Israeli Air Force (IAF) base in the Negev desert, 50 km south of Beersheba and 20 km northwest of the town Mitzpe Ramon. The base and the town got their names from the huge "erosion crater" Makhtesh Ramon south of it. The base is also titled Kanaf 25 (Hebrew: כנף 25, lit. Wing 25), it was formerly known as Matred.
It was built as the result of joint Israeli and US government funding as part of the IAF's redeployment out of its bases in the Sinai after the peninsula was handed over to Egypt following the 1978 Camp David Accords. It was constructed between 1979 and 1982 by US companies.[1]
In September 1990, the first AH-64A Apache Peten attack helicopters arrived on Ramon, joined in 2005 by the improved AH-64D Apache Longbow Sharaf.[2][3]
In January 2005, the "Bat" Squadron on Ramon was the first to fly the new F-16I jet Sufa adapted to Israeli needs. Shortly afterwards, the "Negev" Squadron and the "One" Squadron there were also equipped with F-16I jets.[4][5][6]
On September 6, 2007, in Operation Outside the Box four F-15I of the "Hammers" Squadron from Hatzerim Airbase and four F-16Is from Ramon attacked an almost completed nuclear reactor in Syria and destroyed it in order to prevent Syria from building its own nuclear bombs (see gallery directly below).[7]
Currently (2023), in addition to the three F-16I squadrons, two squadrons of AH-64A/D Apache attack helicopters are based here, the only ones in Israel.[8]
For many years there have been considerations of purchasing new AH-64E Apache Guardian helicopters from Boeing, but this has so far failed due to the costs.[9][10]
Note: IAF aircraft can usually be assigned to their squadron by the symbols on the tail