Ben Guerir Air Base
Encyclopedia
Ben Guerir Air Base is a former United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 base located in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

, later operated by the Royal Moroccan Air Force
Royal Moroccan Air Force
The Royal Moroccan Air Force is the air force branch of the Moroccan Armed Forces.-History:...

, which served as a Transatlantic Abort Landing (TAL) site for the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...

. It is located about 36 miles (57.9 km) north of Marrakech
Marrakech
Marrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Ochre city", is the most important former imperial city in Morocco's history...

, near the town of Ben Guerir
Ben Guerir
Ben Guerir, is a city in central Morocco, situated in the Marrakesh-Tensift-El Haouz region. According to the 2004 census it had a population of 62,693....

.

Ben Guerir was established in 1951 by the Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...

 (SAC) as one of five bases constructed in northwest Africa for SAC during a "crash program" which began in 1950. The base was located to allow for the rapid deployment of nuclear-armed B-47 Stratojet
B-47 Stratojet
The Boeing Model 450 B-47 Stratojet was a long-range, six-engined, jet-powered medium bomber built to fly at high subsonic speeds and at high altitudes. It was primarily designed to drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union...

s, without requiring aerial refueling
Aerial refueling
Aerial refueling, also called air refueling, in-flight refueling , air-to-air refueling or tanking, is the process of transferring fuel from one aircraft to another during flight....

. KC-97 Stratotanker
KC-97 Stratotanker
The Boeing KC-97 Stratotanker was a United States strategic tanker aircraft based on the Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter. It was succeeded by the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.-Design and development:...

s were also deployed from the base. SAC occupied the base until 1963, The Base Operating unit was the 3926th Air Base (Later: Combat Support) Group, assigned to the 5th Air Division and later to the 4310th Air Division
4310th Air Division
The 4310th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was last assigned to the Sixteenth Air Force, and stationed at Nouasseur Air Base, Morocco...

  .

The base was designated as a TAL site for the Space Shuttle in July 1988, replacing the former TAL site at Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...

. The site was chosen largely for its location near the nominal ground track
Ground track
A ground track or ground trace is the path on the surface of the Earth directly below an aircraft or satellite. In the case of a satellite, it is the projection of the satellite's orbit onto the surface of the Earth .A satellite ground track may be thought of as a path along the Earth's surface...

 of the shuttle orbiter for a mid-range inclination
Inclination
Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.-Orbits:The inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit...

 launch, meaning a diversion to the TAL site would allow for efficient use of fuel. Ben Guerir last served as a TAL site in June 2002, for STS-111
STS-111
STS-111 was a space shuttle mission to the International Space Station flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour. STS-111 resupplied the station and replaced the Expedition 4 crew with the Expedition 5 crew...

, which landed at Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino County, California, in the Antelope Valley. It is southwest of the central business district of North Edwards, California and due east of Rosamond.It is named in...

 at the conclusion of its flight. The base was deactivated in 2005, after supporting 83 shuttle missions.

Ben Guerir has one runway which is oriented in a North-South direction, is 200 feet (61 m) wide, with 25 feet (7.6 m) shoulders, and is 13720 feet (4,181.9 m) long with a 1000 feet (304.8 m) underrun and a 2500 feet (762 m) compacted dirt overrun, for a total length of 15720 feet (4,791.5 m). During renovation which were made by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 in 1988, the runway was equipped with shuttle-unique landing aids, including a Microwave landing system
Microwave landing system
A microwave landing system is an all-weather, precision landing system originally intended to replace or supplement instrument landing systems...

 and Tactical Air Navigation
Tactical Air Navigation
A tactical air navigation system, commonly referred to by the acronym TACAN, is a navigation system used by military aircraft. It provides the user with bearing and distance to a ground or ship-borne station. It is a more accurate version of the VOR/DME system that provides bearing and range...

 (TACAN) system.

The Moroccan Air Force is currently upgrading Ben Guerir Air Base to support its pending acquisition of F-16 Fighting Falcon
F-16 Fighting Falcon
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force . Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since...

aircraft.

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