Afghanistan — Bagram Airbase
Bagram Airbase is located in the Parvan Province approximately 11 kilometers (7 miles) southeast of the city of Charikar and 47 Kilometers (27 miles) north of Kabul. It is served by a 10,000 foot runway built in 1976 capable of landing large cargo and bomber aircraft.
Bagram Airbase has three large hangars, a control tower, and numerous support buildings. There are over 32 acres of ramp space. There are five aircraft dispersal areas with a total of over 110 revettments. Many support buildings and base housing built by the Soviets, have been destroyed by years of fighting between the various warring Afghan factions.
Bagram Airbase played a key role during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, serving as a base of operations for troops and supplies. and Aircraft based at Bagram provided close air support for Soviet and Afghan troops in the field. Some of the Soviet forces based out of Bagram included the elite 105th Guards Airborne Division.
IKONOS Imagery August 13, 2001
IKONOS imagery as of August 13, 2001, shows 19 MIG-21 aircraft in revettments, and 5 possible MIG-23 aircraft parked on open ramp space. There are about two dozen of abandoned aircraft scattered around the airbase, inclunding an AN-12 CUB an AN-24 COKE and an IL-28 BEAGLE medium bomber.
The Battle for Bagram
As of 07 October 2001, Taliban forces were positioned roughly one to two miles away and have a variety of assets in the area including three tanks and roughly 5,000 troops.
Control of the base was contested between the two forces, with the Northern Alliance controlling one end of the airfield while the Taliban controls the other. Possession of the airfield is difficult to determine. The Taliban may have had physical possession of the airfield, and were surely within artillery and mortar range denying possession of this stragetic facility to the Northern Alliance. It was clear that the two forces had been actively contesting the airbase since 1999, with the airfield changing hands several times since. Press reports indicated that a Northern Alliance general was using the bombed-out control tower as an observation post and as a location to brief journalists, his headquarters was nearby.
Reports also indicated that Northern Alliance rocket attacks on Kabul had been staged from Bagram. If true this might indicate that the Northern Alliance forces were in possession of Russian-made FROG-7 Rockest with a range of 70 kilometers.
According to news reports, Taliban attacks on the airbase included morter attacks and airstrikes using cluster bombs.
Use of Bagram Airbase by Allied Forces
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. As of mid-December 2001 more than 300 American troops, mainly with the 10th Mountain Division, were providing force protection at Bagram. The troops patroled 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.
As of early January 2002 the planned arrival of some 4,500-troop international peacekeeping troops had been delayed, because American troops had priority use of Bagram airfield for offensive operations.
As of late January 2002, there were somewhat over 4,000 US troops in Afghanistan, of which about 3,000 were at Kandahar airport, and about 500 were stationed at the air base in Bagram.
As of mid-March 2002 American heavy construction equipment was employed at Bagram erecting steel frames for new shelters and building earth-filled security barriers. American C-17 transport aircraft were arriving every few hours, and as many as 50 helicopters, including CH-47 Chinooks, AH-64 Apaches, AH-1 Cobras, and UH-60 Black Hawks were visible on the taxiways.
As of mid-June 2002, Bagram Air Base was serving as home to more than 7,000 U.S. and multinational armed services working together in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Numerous tent areas house the troops based there, including one named Viper City.
As of late June 2002, Italian Air Force troops, assisted by Polish and U.S. military engineers, had been working together to repair the runway by fixing holes there.
The main supply route (MSR) at Bagram was officially renamed on 30 April 2002, “Disney Drive” in memory of Spc. Jason A. Disney, a certified welder with the 58th Maintenance Company, out of 1st Corps Support Command, and part of Task Force Warrior, who died at Bagram on Feb. 13 in an industrial accident.
As of late June 2002, the base now had dining facilities serving hot meals, showers, a post exchange, laundry service, a gym, morale welfare and recreation tents, and a phone tent. Housing facilities were also being improved with local Afghan construction workers on post building tent frames that sit above the ground. The frames offer a level floor that allows the tents to drain properly when the rainy season comes, and thus adding stability to the tents. Selection at the PX had also improved to the point that it had coolers, food and movies, and offered a selection of candy, cold soda, compact disks, DVDs, personal hygiene items and post cards for sale, among other things.
In August 2002 the 200th/201st Expeditionary RED HORSE Squadron arrived at Bagram to construct housing facilities for Air Force personnel and to repair the airfields runways. Environmental conditions, bombs, small munitions and lack of care and maintenance have contributed to significant runway damage. Only one side of the 180-foot-wide runway here is being used while Red Horse repairs the other side. It is not uncommon to conduct rapid repair patches on the active runway because of heavy aircraft and high operations tempo.
Runway repair was a Herculean effort, and when all is said and done, approximately 2,500 cubic yards of concrete were used. There are roughly 12,000 11 by 13 foot slabs that make up the runway. Each slab takes approximately 45 minutes to an hour to repair. The RED HORSE squadron will be repairing some 500 slabs.
As of late September 2002, tents were still being constructed and built up in the Coalition Task Force 82nd ABN Division Compound at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. The tents are to house soldiers working and living in the compound area and tents were scheduled to be finished and moved in before the winter season rolled around. The constructing and building of the tents are part of ongoing projects at Bagram Airfield designed to better the conditions for soldiers deployed there.
According to an October 2003 AFPS story, airmen stationed at Bagram started moving from their living quarter tents into semi-permanent wooden structures called B-huts, designed to last three to four years. After that, military operations are expected to move to the other side of the runway, where more permanent structures will be put up. These semi-permanent timber structures are replacing our tents which have exceeded their life expectancy in this harsh environment.
While the eight-section temper tents being replaced held 16 to 24 airmen, the new B-huts hold eight occupants, enabling more personal living space. Because of space limitation in Bagram's Air Force Village, plans called for some airmen to be double bunked temporarily to empty some tents to make room for hut construction. Construction of the huts was being contracted out to local workers. The B-huts' design is upgraded from that of those used by the Army and feature larger living quarters with higher walls and screened windows.
By November 2003 B-huts were replacing the standard shelter option for troops. They were going up everywhere on Bagram making life a little more comfortable for coalition troops supporting Operation Enduring Freedom here at Bagram Air Base. 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 largest amount of B-huts were built at the old Italian camp which was for the Marines. There were e some going up in aviation, coalition forces areas; the Air Force got a good bit of them and Camp Blackjack had 40 of them. Construction pace was quick, and workers completed approximately eight homes every two weeks.
The increased number of B-huts not only provided a change for US troops. The new structures also appeared in housing areas of coalition troops and civilian employees as well. Coalition troops have them. Brown and Root personnel have them and actually there is one whole area called Contractor Village which consists of B-hut structures.
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. They offer a nice place to stay and are an improvement from the tent. They have installation, electric, walls and ceilings. It’s a lot warmer in the winter and in the summer it’s a lot cooler. They don’t get the wind and they are a lot quieter. On average, B-huts house up to eight people, as does the majority housing option, the tent. But with the B-hut comes a little more breathing room. Most of the tents are 16 by 32 feet. Where these B-huts are 18 by 36 feet. B-huts are a welcomed addition to housing on Bagram and personnel in charge of creating the structures said they are excited to give people working here better housing.
The facilities the Corps of Engineers are building at Bagram Air Force Base as well as other U.S. operational bases in Afghanistan are semi-permanent structures. Buildings which are constructed using more permanent materials such as cement blocks and provide a higher level of force protection than wooden or other less permanent types of construction. Cement blocks and concrete are also locally available while lumber or other prefabricated structures must be brought in from outside the region. Using locally available materials saves transportation costs and make these brick and mortar facilities close in price to less permanent types of facilities.
The general scope of work for construction is to upgrade the quality of life for U.S. Soldiers by improving their living conditions and operational facilities. Many of soldiers have been living in tents or wooden huts for over three years, which were originally designed to be used for 6-24 months.
Camp Civilian
As the population of the air base continues to expand, the number of troops on Bagram was not the only thing increasing. The demand for civilian contractors grewing as well. Due to the number of civilian workers residing on Bagram, a project was initiated to better facilitate their needs and better monitor who is living where. Between the (Kellogg), Brown and Root contractors, media and other civilian employees, there were over 300 non-military personnel on Bagram by mid-2003. At that time, these civilians were spread all over the base living amongst the servicemembers. This caused problems for a couple different reasons. Because most of the civilians are out here for an extended period of time, their needs are different than those of the troops. In addition, their standard of living is a little higher than the standard that the military provides for servicemembers, so other accommodations had to be made. Another reason for relocating the civilians is for force protection. If there is an exercise or if the base is attacked, it makes it easier on military personnel to have all of the civilians located in one area so they can be given proper instruction all at once. To consolidate all civilian personnel in an organized manner, one compound was constructed to house every civilian on Bagram. In May 2003 the construction of Camp Civilian began, initially consisting of 60 B-huts complete with air-conditioning, latrines and four Stratex shower units. The compound was completed by the end of July, but they began relocating civilian employees when the first of the hut was available. Once the city was complete, it was able to accommodate almost 400 civilian contractors. Each hut is designed to accommodate eight people, but realistically there were about six per unit. There was more than enough room to facilitate the need of the contractors here and any more who will be arriving.
Camp Cunningham
A marble monument was unveiled during a dedication in February 2004 that officially named the Air Force compound to Camp Cunningham, in memory of Senior Airman Jason D. Cunningham. Airman Cunningham was a pararescueman killed in action during Operation Enduring Freedom.
By late 2004, with coalition forces stationed throughout Afghanistan, logistical support is one of the most important factors in supporting the fight against terrorism. While there is more than one way to push the necessary supplies to remote forward operating bases, the Marines of Heavy Marine Helicopter Squadron 769 used their CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters to keep everything moving.
By early 2005 concrete was set in preparation for new buildings and storage areas at the Air Force sector where gravel was once the material of choice. At Camp Cunningham civil engineers worked on plans to accommodate about 35 more Airmen on the same 106,000 square feet of land. Months before the first of the Airmen entered Camp Cunningham’s gates, civil engineers worked on plans to construct the additional 24 wooden huts needed to provide working spaces and living quarters for the arriving Airmen.
Getting the huts constructed was not the challenge. It was coordinating the camp power upgrade with Army and Bagram contractors. Also, to make room for the new facilities, the Airmen got rid of 9,000 tons of dirt, cloth and wire structures that made up the camp’s security walls. The different civil engineer functions had to assist other shops to meet deadlines and accomplish the mission.
As office spaces were created, communications technicians connected and buried about 15,000 feet of electrical, telephone and computer network lines, and broadcast cables for 13 new facilities. Although burying their work under the packed, rocky dirt initially meant more work for the 455th Expeditionary Communications Flight Airmen, the team chose to dig in because going subterranean will make maintenance easier by increasing the reliability and survivability of the cable, said Capt. Ernie Baldree, the flight’s chief.
A March 15, 2005 AFPN story reported that Bagram’s 9,800-foot runway would undergo major repairs beginning at the end of that month to maintain operations in and out of the busiest airfield in Afghanistan. The work was to be completed by Airmen of the 455th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron who expected the work to take 16 weeks to complete with 28 shattered slabs of concrete to be replaced using precast concrete -- concrete poured and cured in an alternate location, away from the runway, and put into place when ready; a runway repair method last used by the Air Force in the 1970s. The need for the repair method arose because of mission requirements, which dictated that the runway could not be shut down for an extended period of time. Each slab is 12-feet long, 13-feet wide and one-foot deep, weighing about 23,400 pounds.
The plan called for the damaged concrete on the runway to be removed just before placing the new slabs. A flat-bed truck would then bring the slabs to the flightline, where a 120-ton crane would lift and position them into place. The runway would become useable once again once the the slabs are sealed. 13 shattered slabs were reported to be at the south end of the runway, another 13 in the middle and north end of the runway and the final two slabs located toward the north end of the runway. In addition to the replacement of the slabs, engineers were to also repair other major runway cracks and seal joints.
The 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Civil Engineers were busy since they landed. From facility upgrades to pouring concrete, these civil engineers have done a tremendous amount of work in just a few short weeks.
In order to conduct safe flying operations in bad weather conditions or emergencies, the Marine squadron has some specific requirements that are not normally found at Air Force airfields, such as an operational mobile aircraft arresting system.
A mobile aircraft arresting system is basically a hydraulically activated set of two modified B-52 brakes designed to stop fighter aircraft equipped with a tail-hook during in-flight emergencies and periods of inclement weather such as rain or strong cross-winds.”
There is a lot of room on this runway for pilots to land safely, but just in case, Marine pilots are well qualified to take arrested landings. The mobile aircraft arresting system is simply a precautionary measure that is available should it be needed to stop a 40-50,000 pound jet quickly or in the event of emergency.
The airfield Fire Department operated by Kellogg Brown and Root performs invaluable aircraft egress, and barrier rewind operations, however, the overall maintenance and certification responsibilities lie with the Barrier Maintenance, Electrical and Power Production shop.
Camp Albert
Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee visited senior U.S. civilian and military leaders in Afghanistan, 20-21 March 2004, as part of his Southeast Asia military tour. More than 75 percent of the 11,500 US service members deployed throughout Afghanistan are US Soldiers. Brownlee took a quick helicopter flight to Bagram Air Base to meet with Maj. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commander of Coalition Joint Task Force 180, for a mission briefing; and another flight downrange to visit 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment Soldiers at Camp Albert in Ghazni. This report is evidently in error, since all other sources confirm that Camp Albert is located on Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. It is home for soldiers of the 25th Infantry Division, deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as of October 2004.
