Al Asad Airfield [Qadisiyah Airbase]
Al Asad Airfield, the second largest airbase in Iraq, is located in northern Iraq approximately 180 kilometers West of Baghdad and 12 kilometers Southwest of the Euphrates River. The airfield is served by two main runways measuring 14,000 and 13,000 feet. Al Asad, like other military airbases across Iraq, has numerous hardened shelters and hangars with multiple runways and taxiways, patterned after their Russian counterparts. According to the "Gulf War Air Power Survey", Al Asad had 33 hardened aircraft shelters. At the each end of the main runway are Hardened aircraft shelters knowns as "trapezoids" or "Yugos" which were build by Yugoslavian contractors some time prior to 1985. Al Asad is protected by a 21 kilometers security perimeter.

There is one Weapon Storage Areas (WSA) located 8 kilometers to the Northeast which occupies 3 square kilometers. This WSA appears on a 1985 Russian map but it is not known whether it was struck during Operation Desert Storm, or Desert Fox. The Al Asad airfield, housed three fighter squadrons - the bulk of the Iraqi air force.

As of 19 May 2002, there was no Ikonos imagery of Al Asad in Space Imaging's Carterra Archive. Al Asad airbase in Western Iraq is vast and empty, riddled with bunkers and broken aircraft.

Qadisiyah Airbase is named after the great battle of May 636 at Al Qadisiyah, a village south of Baghdad on the Euphrates. The Iranians, who outnumbered the Arabs six to one, were decisively beaten. From Al Qadisiyah the Arabs pushed on to the Sassanid capital at Ctesiphon, enabling Islam under Caliph Umar to spread to the East. During the 1980s, Baathist publicists regularly called the Iran-Iraq War a modern day "Qadisiyah" exploiting this age-old enmity in its propaganda and publicizing the war as part of the ancient struggle between the Arab and Persian empires.

FOB Webster / Objective Weber (Al Asad Airbase)
Australian Special Air Service Regiment troops captured the Al Asad Airfield on 16 April 2003. Counter-SF tactics saw the enemy concentrate sports utility vehicles (SUVs) mounted with heavy calibre machine-guns with mortar support to try and out manoeuvre and overwhelm the SF groups. They failed abysmally as SF, sometimes with close-air support, used superior tactics to devastate and defeat this determined enemy element. The key, it was found, lay in destroying the SUVs. With that done, surrender inevitably followed.

The coalition found scores of fighter aircraft, mostly Soviet-era MiGs but also three advanced MiG-25 Foxbats. Special operations forces entered al Asad airfield and found numerous fixed-wing fighter warplanes, apparently undamaged and many still in flyable condition, hidden under camouflage. The discovery of over 50 aircraft at AL Asad Air Base and nearly 8 million kilograms (8,000 tonnes) of explosive ordnance was a major achievement. The MiGs escaped detection during the coalition bombing campaign. Some were buried, others were parked in date palm tree groves or tucked in dried out riverbeds and covered with camouflage sheets.

Some of the Iraqi MiGs were in in flight condition, and, as of late September 2004, remained a unique feature of the airbase, with parts lying discarded accross the barren landscape of Al Asad. Occasionally, one can find an engine of a MiG-25 Foxbat-considered to be the fastest fighter aircraft ever produced-being used as a roadblock.

With the capture of the airbase the SF refused to rest on their laurels - they got it working again. Although none are mechanics or airfield engineers, they repaired and rebuilt two bulldozers, a roller and a grader and repaired bomb craters on the airfield in order to allow 36 Sqn's C130s to land. Repair of the airfield also enabled a couple of high-profile visitors to deliver a personal thank you. Fittingly on Anzac Eve, Minister for Defence Robert Hill and CDF Gen Peter Cosgrove paid homage to the small quiet group who have forged an awesome reputation for Australia in the wastes of the western desert.

HHC 54th Engineer Battalion (Corps) (Mechanized) conducted initial reconnaissance of Al Asad Airbase in western Iraq on 30 APR 03. This aerial reconnaissance was for the purpose of conducting an airfield reconnaissance to determine the suitability of utilizing the runway for land military aircraft for resupply. Members of the recon team were CPT Sizemore, CPT Watkins, SFC Ellis, and SGT Thomas. The Regimental Support Squadron (RSS) battalion commander and CSM also attended the initial recon.

FOB Al Asad / Camp Al Asad
Upon arriving in Iraq, assets of the 3d ACR quickly took their positions in the Al Anbar Region of Iraq. The 3d ACR was assigned the difficult task of controlling what was and still is the "hot spot" of Iraq. Each Squadron arrived to their new duty station. They received minimal supplies to renovate the desolate and meager conditions found at each camp. In the process, Troopers discovered a diamond in the rough-Al Asad Air Base. Al Asad, a state of the art facility, built by the Iraqi government and fund ed by Yugoslavia in the early 1980's was abandoned in the mid 1990's. Located on the facility, along with the majority of 3d ACR Troopers, is one of the most sophisticated hospitals in Iraq. Within the hospital lies medical equipment formerly used by the Iraqi Army, abandoned and useless to the Army, which now inhabit the base. Like the rest of Al Asad, the equipment gathered dust after the Iraqi Army abandoned the post.

The 3d ACR cleared the hospital, gathered medical equipment and repaired that which was inoperable. Civil Affairs assets from Long Knife Squadron decided to give the equipment to the local hospital in an effort to improve hospital quality within the community. Capt. Michael Rush, Civil Affairs Officer for Long Knife Squadron spearheaded the operation to get the equipment to the hospital within Baghdadi, Iraq, a small town outside of Al Asad Air Base.

In mid-September 2003 a brigade from the 82nd Airborne Division replaced the 2nd Squadron of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, freeing it to move west. After a short rest at Al Asad Airbase, Iraqi headquarters of the 3rd ACR, the squadron began its new mission securing more than 500 miles of border with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria.

By late 2003 the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was spread out only within a small region of a much larger country. Soldiers from across the United States and around the globe stand in long lines at the dining facility, post office, Post Exchange, and finance at Al Asad, a large base in northwestern Iraq.

At the Al-Asad Air Base, soldiers of the 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment mourned their comrades-in-arms who died on 02 November 2003 when their Chinook transport helicopter was downed outside Fallujah, 50km west of Baghdad. In a tribute to the fallen soldiers on 06 November 2003, men prayed and cried as taps rang out in a ceremony, where an American flag fluttered and 15 helmets hung from posts.

According to an Oct. 3, 2004 Marine Corps story, in a ceremonial "manning of the rails," Det. C, Marine Aircraft Control Squadron 1, MWSG 38, 3rd MAW, transferred their operations to the Iraqi air traffic control tower at al-Asad on Sept. 30, 2004. Measuring 150 feet tall, the Iraqi tower is more than twice the size of the expeditionary tower, which the unit had been operating in since arriving here in March 2004. The permanent Iraqi tower has numerous advantages over the more austere expeditionary tower, including increased visibility. Prior to that, the unit had been using an AN/TSQ-120 ATC tower, which would, as a result, be used for backup operations. Because the Iraqi tower had not been utilized or maintained for an extended period of time, it wasn't easy for MACS-1 to get it ready for use, with preparation work on the tower taking three months.

Almost 40 sailors with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 24 began a runway reconstruction project at Al Asad 16 May 2005. The project includes excavating the old joints in the runway that are cracking, chipping and separating after years of wear and tear. Pouring new concrete will give jet aircraft a smooth surface for landings and take-offs and could reduce aircraft maintenance.

In early June 2005 Marines from Marine Wing Support Squadron 271 put the finishing touches today on a two-month project to enhance the security of airbase by expanding the perimeter fence. Engineers, welders, draftsmen, surveyors and heavy equipment operators began the mesa fence project April 26, and since then have been working, through temperatures ranging in the triple digits and constant blowing dust, to extend the perimeter of the airbase.

The fence line was pushed out to extend security. It will provide a better vantage point for security towers. The squadron's drafters and surveyors scoped out the area and drew up the plan, which included three miles of fence, barbed wire and a bridge to cross the wadi between the base and the towering mesa. When the plans were finished, the squadron's engineers began the process of digging thousands of postholes, planting the fence posts, hanging the fence and tying the barbed wire.

Because the fence crossed through the wadi, or riverbed, that lies between the camp and the ridgeline, the squadron used their ingenuity to craft a non-standard field expedient bridge needed to reach guard towers around the perimeter. While drafters and surveyors measured the topography and drew up the plans, engineers laid a foundation complete with drainage, and the squadron's welders crafted the bridge from old steel concrete forms.

Navea Training Center (Al Asad)
The third class of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps graduated from training at the Navea Training Center, Iraq, 11 Nov 2003. The class of about 170 Iraqis will be tasked with defending much of Iraq's infrastructure facilities, such as power plants and pipelines. The week long training course requires the Corpsmen to complete physical training each day and train on a variety of skills including first aid, guard duty, recognizing and responding to improvised explosive devices, search techniques and detention of personnel.