IRAN'S UNDERGROUND AIR BASE

On February 6, 2023, Iran publicly unveiled its first underground war base, located in the south of the country.

Designed to withstand bunker-buster bombs used by the USAF and suicide (kamikaze) drones of the Israeli Intelligence Service (Mossad), the Oghab-44 (Eagle/Eagle-44) base is the first in a series of advanced underground air bases of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF).

Iran builds underground bases close to tactical fighter bases to protect its aircraft during wartime. 

Oghab-44 is an alternative base for the F-4E Phantom IIs of the 91st Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS), currently based at the 9th Tactical Fighters Base (TFB) in Bandar Abbas. 

What Exactly Do We Know?

Satellite images show that construction of the base began in 2014. There are two tunnel networks under a mountain in the Dasht (Plain) Konar region of Hormozgan province. Each tunnel network has parking for six F-4Es and can accommodate 20 F-4Es in total, and a maintenance area for another four F-4s. In an emergency, the base can host a total of 40 fighter jets, including Su-24MK fighter-bombers from the 72nd TFS in Shiraz.

While it took IRIAF's engineering units nearly a decade to build the underground facilities, it took only eight months to construct a concrete-covered runway 3 km long and 50 m wide. Construction of the runway began in May 2022 and was completed in January 2023. Concrete panels were used on the surface to speed up the construction process. The runway also has a ramp large enough to park a C-130E/H Hercules transport aircraft at one end. At the eastern end of the runway, a taxiway leads aircraft to underground facilities.

Pictured are two F-4E Phantoms making their way through the fast control area tunnel of the Oghab-44 underground airbase.

The aircraft then passes over a small mountain where the quick control area is located. Immediately after landing or before takeoff, the ground crew will perform post-flight or pre-flight checks inside the tunnel and remove the safety pins for bombs and missiles before takeoff or take the brake parachute after landing.

Each tunnel has an explosion-proof door that protects it from any nuclear blast outside the base. Once inside the tunnels, F-4E Phantom II pilots can shut down their General Electric J79-GE-17C turbojet engines. From then on, their aircraft are towed to parking spaces within each tunnel network.

The base has two sets of carrier cable networks that can assist F-4s, F-5s and F-14 fighters with tail-hooks in the event of an emergency landing. Two sets of barrier nets are also available for emergency interception of Mirage F1BQ/EQs, MiG-29s, Su-24MKs and F-7/FT-7 fighter jets without arresting hooks.

In the last few years, some F-4Es have undergone depot overhaul at IACI (Iranian Aircraft Industries) to check the level of corrosion on some of the F-4Es and to decorrode them. 

Pictured, an F-4 entering the underground base.

Conclusion: 

Some aspects of the Oghab-44 may lead observers to believe that it was designed for an air defense role. This role is already prominently assigned to Iran's expanding ground-based air defense network, which includes very few Iranian fighter jets. The modern Su-35s, which will be added to the inventory as a result of the Russian purchase deal, will help Iran carry out the air defense mission more effectively.

More likely, then, Oghab will serve as a secure forward operating base supporting maritime interdiction operations as part of Iran's denial of access/area denial strategy, using mainly F-4 and Su-24 attack aircraft squadrons.  

Even without more modern aircraft or a larger fleet, Iran's expensive new underground air bases could provide it with some degree of air first strike capability against US naval assets in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea. 

Armed with long-range anti-ship missiles and smart munitions, aircraft taking off from Oghab-44 could provide a degree of surprise first-strike capability, as well as second-strike capability to retaliate against US warships (especially aircraft carriers), amphibious groups, auxiliary ships and regional bases. As the complex has been under construction for some time, it most likely had a single objective in mind: to launch surprise attacks on US warships in the Gulf region, especially aircraft carrier strike groups.

The Strait of Hormuz has been opened to shipping and maritime traffic. The construction of such bases could encourage other countries in the region to add fortified underground facilities to their existing air bases or build new bases of similar capability.

Reference

1. CAJ-Combat Aircraft Journal.

2. TWI-The Washington Institute For Near East Policy.