Airbase in Hatzor, Israel
Hatzor Airbase (Hebrew: בָּסִיס חֵיל-הַאֲוִויר חָצוֹר) (ICAO: LLHS), also titled Kanaf 4 (lit. Wing 4) is an Israeli Air Force (IAF) base, located in central Israel near kibbutz Hatzor after which it is named. However, there have been no fighter jets stationed there since 2021, only patrol aircraft, UAVs and defense missiles.
History
RAF Qastina
The airbase was opened as RAF Qastina in 1942 by the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom in the then British Protectorate of Palestine.
It was named after the nearby Palestinian village of the same name.
On the night of 25 February 1946, Irgun militants attacked the airfield and destroyed several parked RAF Handley Page Halifax transports. Two additional RAF airfields, RAF Lydda (nowadays Ben Gurion International Airport) and RAF Kfar Sirkin, were attacked in what became known as the "Night of the Airplanes". Altogether, the attacks destroyed 20 RAF aircraft and damaged several others. Following these attacks, the RAF closed some of its Palestine bases to Egypt.[1]
RAF Units stationed at RAF Qastina:
On 15 March 1948, as the British Mandate for Palestine drew to a close, the RAF evacuated the airfield and it was taken over by Haganah forces.
Israeli Air Force Base Hatzor
The "First Fighter" squadron was founded in May 1948 as the first military aircraft squadron in Israel and moved to Hatzor in November – at that time still with Avia S-199 fighter aircraft imported from Czechoslovakia. It flew the F-16C/D from the 1980s and has been involved in numerous missions since its inception.[6]
The "Scorpion" squadron on Hatzor was founded in 1950 and initially flew the English Spitfire, later the US Mustang and the French Dassault Mystère IV. It was also involved in numerous missions. In the early 1990s it received the F-16C/D.[7] Both squadrons relocated from Hatzor to Ramat David Airbase in 2021.[8]
On January 19, 1964, an Egyptian Air Force Yak-11 trainer deserted to Hatzor with Captain Mahmoud Abbas Hilmi on board. The 26-year-old Egyptian flight instructor asked for political asylum after landing.
On the morning of 16 August 1966, an Iraqi Air Force MiG-21 landed at Hatzor, the culmination of Operation Diamond. Munir Redfa, an Iraqi Air Force pilot, had been persuaded by the Mossad to fly the flagship of the Soviet export aircraft industry to Israel. The MiG was the most advanced aircraft in Arab inventories at the time.[9]
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In early 1964, an Egyptian pilot deserted to Hatzor in a
Yak-11 trainer
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The
MiG-21 that deserted from Iraq to Hatzor in 1966 in the
IAF Museum
Since 2010 Hatzor has a network of eight simulator pods which use satellite footage of countries including Lebanon and Syria to train pilots for deep strike missions.[10]
Flooding
Since Hatzor Airbase is located in a valley between two streams – which are dry most of the year – flooding has occurred repeatedly since its founding, affecting military equipment. This happened in the 1950s, in the winter of 1991/92, in 2013 and most recently in 2020, when fighter aircraft and a battery of defense missiles were so damaged that repairs took five months.[11] This is also a reason why the last two squadrons of manned fighter aircraft on Hatzor were relocated to the Ramat David Airbase in northern Israel in 2021.[8]
Current
On April 2, 2017, the first two batteries of Israel's latest missile defense system – the David's Sling – went operational on the airbase.[12] A battery of the smaller Iron Dome system has been installed there since 2012, but was damaged in a flood in the winter of 2012/13 and had to be repaired.[13]
In March 2021, the base's two F-16 squadrons ("First Fighter" & "Scorpion") relocated to Ramat David Airbase to consolidate all remaining F-16C/D Barak jets under one roof.[8] This means there are no longer any manned fighter jets at Hatzor Airbase.
In July 2021, photos appeared showing the construction of a Combined Operations Center for the US military and Israel in the northern area of the base. However, no further information was released. Several new buildings had already been built there in recent years.[14]
In January 2023, the 200 Squadron "First UAV" moved here from Palmachim Airbase with Heron 1 Shoval and Eitan UAVs.[15]
In September 2023, as part of the Storm Clouds project, a squadron on Hatzor that reopened in August 2022 was equipped with new UAVs, the 144 Squadron "Phoenix" with missiles of the newly developed "Spark" Nitsot type, which are manufactured by Rafael Aeronautics.[16]
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