For the civil use of the facility after January 1976, see Udon Thani International Airport

Udon Thani International Airport

Udonthani International Airport is an airport located near the city of Udon Thani in Udon Thani Province in the northeast region of Thailand. It is approximately 280 miles northeast of Bangkok...

Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base (Udorn RTAFB) is a Royal Thai Air Force

Royal Thai Air Force

The Royal Thai Air Force or RTAF is the air force of the Kingdom of Thailand. Since its establishment in 1913, as one of the earliest air forces of Asia, the Royal Thai Air Force had engaged in many major and minor battles. During the Vietnam war era, the air force has been developed with USAF-aid...

 (RTAF) base, the home of 2nd Air Division/23rd Wing Air Combat Command.

The 231 Squadron "Hunter" is assigned to Udorn, equipped with the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet-A.
Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base was established in the 1950s as a RTAF base.
Political considerations with regards to Communist forces engaging in a civil war inside Laos and fears of the civil war spreading into Thailand led the Thai government to allow the United States to covertly use five Thai bases beginning in 1961 for the air defense of Thailand and to fly reconnaissance flights over Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

.

Under Thailand's "gentleman's agreement" with the United States, Royal Thai Air Force Bases

Royal Thai Air Force Bases

Within the period of 1954-1975 , the Thai Government allowed the Joint United States Military Assistance Group to fund and manage the modernization of Royal Thai Air Force airbases...

 used by the USAF were considered Royal Thai Air Force bases and were commanded by Thai officers.