Military AI Works

Hi folks,

Using the Mirage 2000 revival as an excelent excuse, I'm now updating my Gulf region AI

I noticed a new airbase in the UAE called Al Safran AB, some 100 km southwest of Abu Dhabi. I think I found the location in Google Earth (23.650361° 53.822323°), as there seems to be an airfield under construction. You can see the general lay out, but it's merely enough for a basic afcad.

Anyone out there with some more information?

When I made the plans for the UAE Mirages I found some info on Scramble.nl according to which the base is operational and hosts a squadron of Mirages. Unfortunately it's not present in FS2004 nor there is an afcad for it. I ended up basing all the aircrafts in Al Dhafra.

Jane's Defense Weekly wrote this back on Jun 8, 2007:
"The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is in the final stages of completing a new airbase, Jane's has learned, with Mirage 2000-9 aircraft already operating from this facility.

A senior UAE Air Force source confirmed to Jane's that the new airbase, Al-Safran, is situated 80 km southwest of Abu Dhabi International Airport. Although the base currently serves the Mirage aircraft, it is expected that around 40 of the UAE's quota of 80 F-16E/F Desert Falcons will fly from there in the near future."

Considering that Google Earth images are sometimes 5-7 years old, completed base facilities/buildings not being visible isn't surprising. Couldn't find the base easily in Yahoo sat imagery...

Ford Friendly wrote:Considering that Google Earth images are sometimes 5-7 years old, completed base facilities/buildings not being visible isn't surprising. Couldn't find the base easily in Yahoo sat imagery...

That's because the Yahoo imagery doesn't show it at all. It's just east of the town Madinat Zayed in a large green rectangle. I found some info on a sheik visiting the town and the airbase, but nothing useful

Reading the notes at Scramble it says that the 86th "might have been" relocated to Al Safran. According to the order of battle page the UAE has three Mirage 2000-9EAD/DAD squadrons. So that would mean two squadrons would remain at Al Dhafra.

There's a discussion of UAE assets here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Mirage_2000
and here: http://www.scramble.nl/ae.htm.

Looks like 2 airfields being built there, 5 km apart?

Interesting. If you look at the north-eastern field you won't see any construction works. Maybe it's a mock up airfield for target practice?