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Geilenkirchen Air Base is a NATO military airfield in Nordrhein-Westfalen, close to the Dutch border west of the town of Geilenkirchen, and serves as the main operating base for NATO's E-3A AWACS Component. It is not a civil airfield and any flight there would require prior permission and coordination with military air traffic control.
Geilenkirchen Air Base (ICAO ETNG) is a NATO military installation lying in Nordrhein-Westfalen, close to the German-Dutch border. It is best known as the Main Operating Base for NATO's E-3A Component, which flies the Boeing E-3A Sentry AWACS aircraft with integrated multinational crews. For a simulator pilot the field is of interest chiefly for its long ILS-equipped runway, its distinctive military traffic pattern of AWACS operations, and its position tucked against the Dutch border in the Rhineland farmland.
The base lies in Teveren, some four kilometres west of Geilenkirchen town and immediately adjacent to the Netherlands border, within German airspace surrounding a busy military aerodrome. It sits in open farmland with woodland nearby, and is roughly 104 miles from Brussels Airport. As an active NATO facility, movements are coordinated through Frisbee Approach/Tower and Langen military control (https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/geilenkirchen.htm).
Geilenkirchen has a single physical runway, 09/27, of hard surface construction measuring approximately 9,500 feet in length (09 listed at 9,511 ft and 27 at 9,524 ft). Both runway directions are lit, and an ILS is available on runway 27.
Radio services are provided under the callsign Frisbee. ATIS broadcasts on 27.82 MHz. Frisbee Tower operates on 122.1 MHz, with Frisbee Radar available on 123.3 MHz and 128.5 MHz (the latter shared with Langen Control). A further post frequency, Magic Command Post, is listed on 139.875 MHz, and an additional radar frequency is published on 38.54 MHz.
The airfield was established by the Royal Air Force after the Second World War and was known locally as Flugplatz Teveren, after the neighbouring village. From May 1953 until January 1968 it served as an RAF fighter station, hosting a succession of fighter types including Meteors, F-86 Sabres, Swift fighter-reconnaissance aircraft, Hunters and Javelins; No. 11 Squadron's Javelin FAW Mk 4/5s were later replaced by Mk 9s and joined by a second Javelin squadron, No. 5(AC) Squadron, while Canberra B(I)8s of No. 59 Squadron (later renumbered No. 3 Squadron) also operated from the base. German authorities assumed control of the airfield in the late 1960s, and in 1980 NATO officially took command, transforming Geilenkirchen into the Main Operating Base for the E-3A AWACS fleet, a role it retains as NATO's only multinational operational flying unit (https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/geilenkirchen.htm; https://militarybaseguides.com/geilenkirchen-air-base).
Geilenkirchen remains an active NATO installation and the Main Operating Base for the E-3A Component, flying AWACS surveillance aircraft with integrated crews drawn from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Turkey and the United States. It also hosts NATO Allied Air Command functions related to air and missile defence, and has supported NATO missions over the Balkans, Afghanistan and ongoing air policing tasks. As a military base it is not open to general civil traffic, and any flight to or from Geilenkirchen would require prior permission (https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/geilenkirchen.htm; https://saihqarc1.salvationarmy.org/geilenkirchen-air-base; https://militarybaseguides.com/geilenkirchen-air-base).
