Bagram Airfield
Bagram Airfield
IATA: OAI – ICAO: OAIX
Summary
Airport type		Military
Owner		Afghanistan
Operator		United States Army United States Air Force
Location		Bagram, Afghanistan
Elevation AMSL		4,895 ft / 1,492 m
Coordinates		34°56′46″N 069°15′54″E / 34.94611°N 69.265°E / 34.94611; 69.265
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
03/21	3,602	11,819	Concrete

Bagram Airfield,^[1] also referred to as Bagram Air Base, is one of the largest U.S. military bases in Afghanistan. It comes with a dual-runway militarized airport and is located next to the ancient city of Bagram, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) southeast of Charikar in Parwan province of Afghanistan. The base is run by a U.S. Army division headed by a major general. However, a large part of it is "owned" by the United States Air Force (455th Air Expeditionary Wing). The area under Air Force control (about half of the overall base) includes the flight line, the ramp, and most of the area involving air mission resources.

The base is currently occupied and maintained by the Combined Joint Task Force 1st Cavalry Division (CJTF-1), having taken over from the 101st Airborne Division in the first half of 2011. The airfield is occupied and maintained by 10th Combat Aviation Brigade (Task Force Falcon) and 3-10 GSAB (Task Force Phoenix) of the U.S. Army, with the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing of the U.S. Air Force and other U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, and NATO/ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) coalition partner units having sizable tenant populations. In addition, the U.S. government regional platform for the east is at the base, staffed by civilians.

The ICAO ID is OAIX and it is specifically at 34.944N, 69.259E at 1,492 metres (4,895 ft) above sea level. Bagram Airfield has two runways, one is 3,003 metres (9,852 ft) long that was built in 1976. The other is 3,500 metres (11,500 ft) long,^[2] which was built and completed by the United States in late 2006. There are three large hangars, a control tower, and numerous support buildings. There are also more than 32 acres (130,000 m²) of ramp space and five aircraft dispersal areas, with a total of over 110 revetments. Many support buildings and base housing built by the Soviet Armed Forces during their occupation were destroyed by years of fighting between various warring Afghan factions after the Soviets left. New barracks and office buildings are slowly being constructed at the present time.

The Parwan Detention Facility at Bagram has been criticized in the past for its abusive treatment of prisoners. In May 2010, the International Committee of the Red Cross revealed that since August 2009 it was informed by U.S. authorities about inmates of a second prison where detainees are held in isolation and without access to the International Red Cross that is usually guaranteed to all prisoners.^[3]

History[link]

The airport at Bagram was built by the United States in the 1950s for its strategic purpose, mainly to counter the spread of communism and the strength of Soviet Union during the Cold War. While the United States was focusing on Afghanistan, the Soviets were busy with the Island of Cuba and Fidel Castro. U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower landed at the airport in 1959 where he was greeted by King Zahir Shah and Prime Minister Daoud Khan among many other Afghan officials.^[4][5] It was maintained by the Afghan Air Force with some support from the U.S.

The airfield played a key role during the Soviet war in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, serving as a base of operations for troops and supplies. Bagram was also the initial staging point for the invading Soviet forces at the beginning of the conflict, with elements of two Soviet Airborne Troops' divisions being deployed there. Aircraft based at Bagram, including the 368th Assault Aviation Regiment flying Su-25s, provided close air support for Soviet and Afghan troops in the field. The 368th Assault Aviation Regiment was stationed at Bagram from October 1986 to November 1987.^[6] In 1987 a memorial was erected in honor of the five Soviet Air Force Su-25 "Frogfoot" pilots who had been killed during the war, including Captain Burak and Senior Lieutenants Aleshin, Zemlyakov, Paltusov and Hero of the Soviet Union Pavlyukov. The dilapidated memorial was discovered by U.S. Air Force Sergeants David Keeley and Raymond Ross, and Army Sergeant Tom Clark in 2006. An attempt was made to preserve it as a historical site, refurbish and possibly relocate the memorial to the Russian embassy in Kabul, but it was ultimately destroyed by base personnel in 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Some of the Soviet land forces based at Bagram included the 108th Motor Rifle Division and the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment of the 105th Guards Airborne Division.

Civil war era[link]

Scene of the runway at Bagram in 2002

Following the withdrawal of the Soviet forces and the rise of the Western-funded and Pakistani-trained^[7]Mujahideen rebels, Afghanistan plunged into civil war. Control of the base was contested from 1999 onward between the Northern Alliance and Taliban, often with each controlling territory on opposing ends of the base. Taliban forces were consistently within artillery and mortar range of the field, denying full possession of the strategic facility to the Northern Alliance. Press reports indicated that at times a Northern Alliance general was using the bombed-out control tower as an observation post and as a location to brief journalists, with his headquarters nearby.

Reports also indicated that Northern Alliance rocket attacks on Kabul had been staged from Bagram, possibly with Russian-made FROG-7 Rockets. In 2000, the Taliban took over control and forced the Northern Alliance to retreat further to the north.

NATO presence and the Karzai administration[link]

During the US-led invasion of Afghanistan the base was secured by a team from the British special force Special Boat Service. By early December 2001 troops from the 10th Mountain Division shared the base with Special Operations Command officers from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida and soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg. The British force consisted of B and C Companies from 40 Commando Royal Marines. As of mid-December 2001 more than 300 US troops, mainly with the 10th Mountain Division, were providing force protection at Bagram. The troops patrolled the base perimeter, guarded the front gate, and cleared the runway of explosive ordnance. As of early January 2002 the number of 10th Mountain Division troops had grown to about 400 soldiers.

U.S. President George W. Bush and wife Laura Bush arrived to Bagram Airfield in Air Force One on 1 March 2006.

As of late January 2002, there were somewhat over 4,000 US troops in Afghanistan, of which about 3,000 were at Kandahar International Airport, and about 500 were stationed at Bagram Airfield. The runway began to be repaired by US, Italian and Polish military personnel. By mid-June 2002, Bagram Airfield was serving as home to more than 7,000 US and other armed services. Numerous tent areas house the troops based there, including one named Viper City.

By November 2003 B-huts, 18-by-36-foot structures made of plywood designed to hold eight troops,^[8] were replacing the standard shelter option for troops. There were several hundred, with plans to build close to 800 of them. The plans were to have nearly 1,200 structures built by 2006, but completion of the project was expected much earlier; possibly by July 2004. The increased construction fell under US Central Command standards of temporary housing and allowed for the building of B-huts on base, not to show permanence, but to raise the standard for troops serving here. The wooden structures have no concrete foundation thus not considered permanent housing, just an upgrade from the tents, the only option Bagram personnel and troops had seen previously. The small homes offer troops protection from environmental conditions including wind, snow, sand and cold. During 2005, a USO facility was built and named after former pro football player and United States Army Ranger Pat Tillman.

A second runway, 3,500 metres (11,500 ft) long,^[9] was built and completed by the United States in late 2006, at a cost of US$68 million. This new runway is 497 metres (1,631 ft) longer than the previous one and 280 millimetres (11 in) thicker, giving it the ability to land larger aircraft, such as the C-5 Galaxy, C-17 Globemaster III or the Boeing 747 (which is used by Southern Air and Kalitta Air for regular cargo flights).^[10]

By 2007 Bagram has become the size of a small town, with traffic jams and many commercial shops selling goods such as clothes to food. The base itself is situated high up in the mountains and sees temperatures drop to −20 °F (−29 °C). Due to the height and snow storms commercial aircraft have difficulty landing there, and older aircraft often rely on very experienced crews in order to be able to land there.

On 18 October 2009 The State reported on Bagram's expansion.^[11] The article reported that Bagram was currently undergoing $200 million USD expansion projects, and called the Airfield a "boom town". According to the article: "Official U.S. policy is not to create a permanent occupation force in Afghanistan. But it is clear from what's happening at Bagram Airfield - the Afghan end of the Charleston-to-Afghanistan lifeline - that the U.S. military won't be packing up soon." By the end of 2009, construction of the Parwan Detention Facility was completed. It houses about 3,000 inmates, mostly insurgents who are fighting against the Afghan government and NATO-led forces.

In March 2010 the U.S. Air Force (USAF) installed 150 solar powered lights to address a rising number of sexual assaults at the base. Eight reported sexual assaults occurred at the base in 2009 involving Airmen and the U.S. Army's sexual assault response team reported treating 45 victims in 2009.^[12] After the 2012 Afghanistan Quran burning protests the United States decided to transfer the running of the Parwan Detention Facility to Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), although the Americans will have access to the facility and will have the power to veto which inmate is released.

Insurgent attacks on the base[link]

Wikinews has related news: Taliban target US Vice President Cheney with suicide bomb attack

The 2007 Bagram Airfield bombing was a suicide attack that killed up to 23 people and injured 20 more at the base, while Dick Cheney, the vice-president of the United States, was visiting. The attack occurred inside one of the security gates surrounding the heavily guarded base.

Veterans Day at the base in 2008

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, one of the Taliban spokesmen, claimed responsibility for the attack and said Cheney was the target. Another Taliban spokesman later said that Osama Bin Laden planned the attack, and reiterated that Cheney was the intended target. This claim is supported by the relatively limited number of large suicide bombings carried out in Afghanistan, combined with the intensity of this attack, and the fact that Cheney was at the base.

Cheney was unhurt in the attack. Among the dead were a US soldier, a US contractor, a South Korean soldier, and 20 Afghan workers at the base.

On 4 March 2009, a car bomb exploded just outside Bagram Airfield wounding three civilian workers.^[13]

On 21 June 2009, two US soldiers were killed and at least six other personnel were wounded during an early morning rocket attack.

In 2008, several U.S. servicemembers were accused of accepting bribes for the award of building contracts on Bagram.^{[14][15][16][17]} Four of the Afghans have also faced charges, while three of them have been held as material witnesses. The GIs are reported to have received over 100,000 dollars in bribes.

On the morning of 15 March 2010, Insurgents attacked the base with rockets. One of the rockets landed next to a B-Hut in a camp located on the west side of the base killing a Bosnian national, who was working at Bagram as a contract firefighter.

Early on the morning of 19 May 2010, Taliban suicide bombers attacked Bagram, with "nearly a dozen" insurgents and one U.S. contractor reported dead while nine service members were reported wounded. A base spokesman said a building was slightly damaged during attacks by rockets, small arms, and grenades; a Taliban spokesman claimed 20 armed men wearing suicide vests attacked the base with four detonating explosives at the entrances, but the military spokesman said they failed "to breach the perimeter" and were "unable to detonate their suicide vests."^[18] The attackers were dressed in U.S. Army uniforms.^[19][20]

Most incidents do not receive press coverage. Evidencing this fact, it was reported that "Bagram came under daily rocket attack" in 2002 even though most of these attacks went unreported by the press.^[21][22] Landmines have also been a serious concern in and around Bagram.^[23]

Early on the morning of 30 December 2010, Taliban insurgents fired two rockets on Bagram though no casualties were reported. Taliban claimed responsibility for the incident.^[24]

Airlines and destinations[link]

Bagram handles a number of scheduled and charter military and commercial flights, some of which have been listed based on available information.

Detention facility at the base[link]

The nurse office inside the Parwan Detention Facility in 2009

Bagram Airfield is the main detention facility for persons detained by US forces in Afghanistan.^[29] As of November 2011 more than 3,000 people are detained at Bagram, roughly 18 times as many as in Guantanamo Bay. The number increased 5-fold since President Barack Obama took office in January 2009.^[30] They are mostly held in a building deep in the heart of the installation.^[29] The detainees have included senior members of al-Qaeda and alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

In July 2005, about 450 alleged militants and journalists were being detained there.^[31][32] Four suspected al-Qaeda militants escaped from Bagram detention center in the same month of 2005.^[31] Apart from US military and intelligence personnel, the only people officially allowed inside the prison building are Red Cross representatives who inspect the facility once every two weeks.^[33] The detainees have no access to any legal process.^[34]

The Parwan Detention Facility has been heavily criticized for alleged torture and prisoner abuse. In 2005, the New York Times reported that two detainees had been beaten to death by guards in December 2002.^[35] Amnesty International has used the word "torture" to describe treatment at the detention center.^[36]

Many of the officers and soldiers interviewed by U.S. Army investigators in the subsequent criminal investigation said the large majority of detainees at Bagram were compliant and reasonably well treated.^[35] However, some interrogators routinely administered harsh treatment which included alleged beatings, sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation, shackling to ceilings, and threats with guard dogs.^[35] Amnesty International has criticized the U.S. government for using dogs in this way at the detention center.^[36]

Heathe Craig Joint Theater Hospital[link]

The military hospital on the installation, named Heathe N. Craig Joint Theater Hospital

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Craig Joint Theater Hospital

The Heathe N. Craig Joint Theater Hospital on the base is 50 bed military hospital named after SSG Heathe N. Craig, a United States Army medic who died while trying to save a wounded comrade.^[37][38][39] According to DoD interviews with medical staff at the hospital its modern facilities rival the facilities at modern hospitals in the United States. It replaces a small, less modern facility.

SSG Craig died on 21 June 2006 during combat operations in Afghanistan. The hoist on his UH-60 helicopter malfunctioned while attempting to evacuate a wounded soldier, PFC Brian J. Bradbury. SSG Craig was assigned to the 159th Air Ambulance Medical Company, Wiesbaden, Germany.

Accidents and incidents[link]

• On 1 March 2010, ACT Airlines Airbus A300 TC-ACB sustained substantial damage when the port main landing gear did not extend and lock out completely. It then collapsed on landing forcing it to veer off the runway which in turn collapsed the nose landing gear and rammed the nose itself into the dirt. The aircraft was a write off and was scrapped within 4 days of the crash.^[40]
• Alleged prisoner abuse at Bagram by US personnel was the subject of the Academy Award Winning Documentary Taxi to the Dark Side. The film details the severe beatings and torture, and ultimate death, of an Afghan taxi driver.

See also[link]

• List of airports in Afghanistan
• Kandahar International Airport
• Transit Center at Manas (Manas Air Base)
• Provincial Reconstruction Team
• International Security Assistance Force
• Afghanistan War order of battle

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bagram Air Base

• [2]
• 455th AEW's Bagram Airfield Official Site
• Bagram Airbase at GlobalSecurity.org
  • Global Security Numerous maps and photos from the sky as of 13 August 2001
• runway dimensions
• The Prisoner, NOW on PBS
• 15 May 2005 News "Slowly, but steadily, a slew of construction projects is providing troops with better housing and improved work areas as well as a handful of new shops for eating and entertainment."
• "Cheney targeted in Taliban attack". Aljazeera.net. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/38956FF4-704F-4AD5-BCD0-85C5A1C0F844.htm. 
• Human Rights First; Undue Process: An Examination of Detention and Trials of Bagram Detainees in Afghanistan in April 2009 (2009)
• Human Rights First; Arbitrary Justice: Trial of Guantánamo and Bagram Detainees in Afghanistan

Bagram
Bazaar and part of the city of Bagram.
Bagram Location in Afghanistan
Coordinates: 34°58′00″N 69°17′34″E / 34.9666667°N 69.29278°E / 34.9666667; 69.29278Coordinates: 34°58′00″N 69°17′34″E / 34.9666667°N 69.29278°E / 34.9666667; 69.29278
Country	Afghanistan
Province	Parwan
District	Bagram
Elevation	4,895 ft (1,492 m)
Time zone	+ 4.30

History of Afghanistan

See also: Timeline

Pre-Islamic Proto-Elamite civilization (2300–1800 BC) Indus valley civilization (2200–1800 BC) Oxus civilization (2100–1800 BC) Aryans (1700–700 BC) Median Empire (728–550 BC) Achaemenids (550–330 BC) Seleucids (330–150 BC) Mauryans (305–180 BC) Greco-Bactrians (256–125 BC) Indo-Greeks (180–130 BC) Indo-Scythians (Sakas) (155–80? BC) Indo-Parthians (20 BC–50? AD) Kushans (135 BC–248 AD) Sassanids (230–565) Indo-Sassanids (248–410) Kidarites (320–465) Hephthalites (410–557) Kabul Shahi (565–879) Islamic period Rashidun Caliphate (642–641) Umayyads (661–750) Abbasids (750–821) Tahirids (821–873) Saffarids (863–900) Samanids (875–999) Ghaznavids (963–1187) Seljukids (1037–1194) Khwarezmids (1077–1231) Ghorids (1149–1212) Ilkhanate (1258–1353) Kartids (1245–1381) Timurids (1370–1506) Arghun (1479-1522) Mughals (1501–1738) |Safavids (1510–1709) Hotaki dynasty (1709–1738) Afsharids (1738–1747) Modern history Durrani Empire (1747–1826) Emirate (1826–1919) Kingdom (1919–1973) Republic (1973–1978) Democratic Republic (1978–1992) Islamic State (1992–1996) Islamic Emirate (1996–2001) Islamic Republic (2001–present) Afghan Civil War  (1979–present) Soviet war  (1979–1989) Civil War, first phase (1989–1992) Civil War, second phase (1992–1996) Civil War, third phase (1996–2001)  War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

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Bagram (Template:Dari: بگرام Bagrám), founded as Alexandria on the Caucasus and known in medieval times as Kapisa, is a small town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir Valley, near today's city of Charikar, Afghanistan.

The location of this historical town made it a key passage from Ancient India along the Silk Road, leading westwards through the mountains towards Bamiyan.

History[link]

It is unknown when the site was originally settled. In the mid 500s BC, Cyrus the Great of the Persian Achaemenid Dynasty destroyed the city as part of his campaign against the Saka nomads in the region. The town, however, was soon rebuilt by his successor Darius I.

In the 320s BC, Alexander the Great captured the city and established a fortified colony named Alexandria of the Caucasus. The new town, laid out in the "hippodamian plan" or iron-grid pattern--a hallmark of Greek city planning, had brick walls reinforced with towers at the angles. The central street was bordered with shops and workshops.

After his death in 323 BC, the city passed to his general Seleucus, who traded it to the Mauryan Dynasty of India in 305 BC. After the Mauryans were overthrown by the Sunga Dynasty in 185 BC, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom invaded and conquered Northwestern India (Present Day Pakistan) with an army led by Demetrius I of Bactria. Alexandria became a capital of the Eucratidian Indo-Greek Kingdom after they were driven out of Bactria by the Yuezhi in 140 BC.

Bagram (Kapisa) became the summer capital of the Kushan Empire in the 1st century, whereas their winter capital was in Peshawar.

The emperor Kanishka started many new buildings there. The central palace building yielded a very rich treasure, dated from the time of emperor Kanishka in the 2nd century: ivory-plated stools of Indian origin, lacquered boxes from Han China, Greco-Roman glasses from Egypt and Syria, Hellenistic statues in the Pompeian style, stuc moldings, and silverware of Mediterranean origin (probably Alexandria).

The "Bagram treasure" as it has been called, is indicative of intense commercial exchanges between all the cultural centers of the Classical time, with the Kushan empire at the junction of the land and sea trade between the east and west. However, the works of art found in Bagram are either quite purely Hellenistic, Roman, Chinese or Indian, with only little indications of the cultural syncretism found in Greco-Buddhist art.

The city was apparently abandoned after the campaigns of the Sassanian emperor Shapur I, in 241 that moved the commerce to Peshawar--a city rebuilt, expanded and renamed by him, Veh Shapor, whence BehShawur ("beautiful deed of Shapor").^{[citation needed]}

• 

  An Indian ivory from Bagram, 2nd century.

• 

  Statue of Harpocrates, Bagram, 2nd century.

• 

  Statuette of Serapis from Bagram.

• 

  Statuette of the young Alexander the Great.

• 

  A Greco-Roman gladiator on a glass vessel, Bagram, 2nd century.

• 

  Bagram vase depicting the rape of Ganymede by Zeus.

• 

  Bagram vase fragments depicting a fighting scene.

• 

  Plaster mold from Bagram.

• 

  Plaster mold from Bagram depicting a cupid.

• 

  Plaster mold from Bagram.

• 

  Plaster mold from Bagram.

• 

  Plaster mold from Bagram depicting a Greek soldier.

Recent history[link]

Bagram school children

Bagram hosts the strategic Bagram Airfield from which most US air activity in Afghanistan takes place. The runway was built in 1976 and it was a Soviet Air base from 1979 to 1989. There is also a Provincial Reconstruction Team which is led by the US.

References and footnotes[link]

• Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul (2008). Eds., Friedrik Hiebert and Pierre Cambon. National Geographic, Washington, D.C. ISBN 978-1-4262-0374-9.

External links[link]

• Map of Bagram and the surrounding area, Afghanistan Information Management Service (AIMS)
• Human Rights First; Undue Process: An Examination of Detention and Trials of Bagram Detainees in Afghanistan in April 2009 (2009)
• Human Rights First; Arbitrary Justice: Trial of Guantánamo and Bagram Detainees in Afghanistan (2008)

Part of Spangdahlem Air Base in 1990

An airbase (sometimes referred to as a military airfield, military airport, air force station or air force base) is an aerodrome used by a military force for the operation of military aircraft.

Airbase facilities[link]

An airbase typically has some facilities similar to a civilian airport - for example air traffic control and firefighting. Some military aerodromes have passenger facilities; for example RAF Brize Norton in England has a terminal used by passengers for the Royal Air Force's flights by TriStar to the Falkland Islands.

Many airbases are located remotely from populated areas.^{[citation needed]}

Some airbases have hardened aircraft shelters, or even underground hangars, to protect aircraft from enemy attack. Combat aircraft require storage of aircraft ordnance. An airbase may be defended by anti-aircraft weapons and force protection troops.

Road airbase[link]

Road airbases are highways constructed to double as auxiliary airbases in the event of war. Nations known to utilise this strategy are Sweden [1], Finland, Germany, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey and Poland. In the case of Finnish road airbases, the space needed for landing aircraft is reduced by means of an arrestor wire, similar to that used on some aircraft carriers.[2]

Aircraft carrier[link]

See also: Unsinkable aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a type of naval ship which serves as a seaborne airbase, the development of which has greatly enhanced the capabilities of modern air forces. They are now a key part of the military, allowing for military aircraft to be staged much nearer the theatre of conflict. Aircraft carriers were vital to the United States during World War II and to the United Kingdom in the 1982 Falklands War.

See also[link]

Look up airbase or air base in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Military airbase

• Royal Air Force station
• List of Indian Air Force bases
• List of Royal Canadian Air Force stations
• List of United States Air Force installations
• List of Soviet Air Force bases
• Naming of military air bases