Current Uses
For several years, beginning in 1981, U-Tapao has hosted parts of Operation Cobra Gold - the largest U.S. military peacetime exercise in the Pacific - jointly involving U.S., Singaporean, and Thai 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 new 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.
A multinational force headquarters was established at U-Tapao to coordinate humanitarian aid for the Sumatran Tsunami of 26 December 2004.
On 7 May 2008, in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, Thai C-130 transports were permitted to land at Yangon International Airport in Burma, carrying drinking water and construction material. From May 12 to 20, USAID and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) coordinated the delivery of nearly $1.2 million of U.S. relief commodities to Yangon on 36 DOD C-130 flights, with supplies sufficient to provide assistance to more than 113,000 beneficiaries. The DOD efforts were under the direction of Joint Task Force Caring Response.
As of June 26, 2008, United States assistance directed by the USAID DART (Disaster Assistance Response Team) stationed in Thailand, had totaled $41,169,769. Units involved were the 36th Airlift Squadron (36 AS) of the 374th Airlift Wing (374 AW) from Yokota Air Base, Japan, flying C-130H Hercules; and Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 (VMGR-152) from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, Japan, flying the Lockheed Martin KC-130R and the newer KC-130J.
In 2012, a proposal for the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to use the military capacities to support weather research was canceled.
Read more about this topic: U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield
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