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U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield

U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Base
Naval Jack of Thailand.svg
Part of Royal Thai Navy (RTN)
Coordinates 12°40′47″N 101°00′18″E / 12.67972°N 101.00500°E / 12.67972; 101.00500 (U-Tapao RTNB)
Type Naval Air Base
Site information
Condition Military Naval Air Base
Site history
Battles/wars Vietnam Service Ribbon.svg
Vietnam War
Airfield information
Summary
Elevation AMSL 42 ft / 13 m
Coordinates 12°40′47″N 101°00′18″E / 12.67972°N 101.00500°E / 12.67972; 101.00500Coordinates: 12°40′47″N 101°00′18″E / 12.67972°N 101.00500°E / 12.67972; 101.00500
Map
VTBU is located in Thailand
VTBU
VTBU
Location of U-tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
18/36 11,500 3,505 Asphalt
Source: DAFIF

U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield is a military airfield of the Royal Thai Navy approximately 140 kilometres (87 mi) southeast of Bangkok in the Ban Chang District of Rayong Province near Sattahip on the Gulf of Siam. It is serves as the home of the Royal Thai Navy First Air Wing.

U-Tapao (Thai: อู่ตะเภา) is a compound of อู่ cradle and ตะเภา trade winds, and derives from the site having once been a shipyard for construction of ruea-tapao (เรือตะเภา), a type of resembling a Qing Dynasty junk.

U-Tapao is the main flying base for the Royal Thai Navy. Squadrons based there include:

Two squadrons are dormant

For several years, beginning in 1981, U-Tapao has hosted parts of Cobra Gold, the largest US military peacetime exercise in the Pacific, jointly involving US, Singaporean, and Thai armed forces, and designed to build ties between the nations and promote interoperability between their military components.

Thailand is an important element in the Pentagon's strategy of "forward positioning". Despite Thailand's neutrality on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Thai government allowed U-Tapao to be used by American warplanes flying into combat in Iraq, as it had earlier done during the war in Afghanistan. In addition, U-Tapao may be where Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah was interrogated, according to some retired American intelligence officials.


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Wikipedia

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