Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Ali Al Salem Air Base is a Kuwait Air Force installation set in open desert some 15 km west of Al Jahra and about 37 km from the Iraqi border, hosting Kuwaiti flying training and attack helicopter squadrons alongside a long-standing USAF presence. Known to generations of coalition personnel as "The Rock", it has played a central role in Gulf-era air operations and remains an active, tightly controlled military airfield rather than a general aviation destination.
Ali Al Salem Air Base is a Kuwait Air Force base in the desert of Al Jahra Governorate, roughly 15 km west of Al Jahra and about 37 km from the Iraqi border. It is home to the Kuwait Air Force's flight training school and its attack and support helicopter squadrons, and it has hosted the United States Air Force's 386th Air Expeditionary Wing alongside the Kuwaiti units. For a simulator pilot the field is of interest chiefly for its long paired concrete/asphalt runways, its front-line history in the region's conflicts, and its nickname of "The Rock", earned from the low rise on which it sits above the surrounding desert plain.
The base lies within Kuwaiti airspace close to the Iraqi border, in Al Damaikhi, Muhafazat al Jahra', Kuwait, about 15 km west of the town of Al Jahra. As a military airfield it sits within controlled and restricted airspace associated with Kuwait Air Force operations, and its proximity to the border has historically placed it at the forefront of coalition air operations over southern Iraq.
The field has two physical hard-surfaced runways aligned 12/30. Runway 12L/30R is about 9,793-9,794 ft long; Runway 12R/30L is about 9,793 ft long and is lit. There is no ILS at the field.
Published frequencies for the field include an approach service, MOHALAB APP, on 128.3 MHz; ground on 25.01 MHz; a tower frequency of 118 MHz; a metro/weather post (PMSV) on 37.272 MHz; and a command post on 25.3 MHz.
Ali Al Salem was the last Kuwaiti air base to be overrun during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990; by that August it was the only Kuwaiti field not yet occupied. A small number of Kuwaiti regulars, staff officers and the base commander, General Saber Suwaidan, stayed to fight and organise resupply missions from Saudi Arabia before the base fell. On discovery, the Iraqi military hanged the Kuwaiti general from the base flagpole; the original pole reportedly still stood as of December 2012. Remaining Kuwaiti personnel were lined up outside the old officers' club and shot, and the building, with its bullet holes, remains. The Royal Air Force operated from Ali Al Salem from early 1998 ahead of Operation Desert Fox, with rotating squadrons of Tornado GR1s and later GR4s. In early 2003 the base was rapidly expanded to house Joint Helicopter Command assets ahead of Operation Telic, during which five RAF Tornado GR4 squadrons were amalgamated into the Ali Al Salem Combat Air Wing under Wing Commander Paddy Teakle, who was awarded the DSO for his leadership; the RAF largely relocated to Al Udeid in Qatar by 2004, though some elements remained until 2008. Bomb damage from precision-guided munitions used during the 1991 Gulf War remained visible on hardened aircraft shelters decades later. From 2018 the Kuwait Air Force undertook an expansion of the base, adding a new runway and extensive hangar facilities to support the incoming Eurofighter Typhoon fleet replacing its F-18C jets, with the work completed in the second half of 2020. During the 2026 Iran war the base came under attack: on 6 April 2026 an overnight Iranian drone strike wounded 15 Americans, and later, on 30 May 2026, debris from a downed Fateh-110 missile fell on the base, slightly injuring around five American soldiers and contractors and destroying a US MQ-9 Reaper drone while seriously damaging another.
Ali Al Salem remains an active Kuwait Air Force installation, home to the Flight Training School operating Hawk Mk.64 and Tucano Mk.52 aircraft, attack helicopter squadrons flying the AH-64D Apache Longbow, and utility and support helicopter units operating the SA 330L Puma, SA 342K Gazelle and AS 332M Super Puma/AS532SC Cougar. A Typhoon Operational Conversion Unit is also based there following the 2018-2020 expansion that brought new hangar facilities for the Eurofighter fleet. The United States Air Force maintains a presence through the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing and its subordinate expeditionary groups. As a restricted military airfield, Ali Al Salem is not open to civilian VFR traffic and any flight there would require prior permission through military channels.