Iran has demonstrated in a video its “newest” underground air base, which it probably uses to “hide its fighters,” primarily “veterans” F-4D/E Phantom II, which currently make up a significant part of the country’s air force, The War Zone reports.
Iran has revealed information about its underground airbase, called Eagle 44, after the largest-ever joint US-Israeli exercises in January this year.
It is currently unclear how long Iran has been working on the creation of its air base and whether it is a completely new facility dug somewhere in the mountains or an “improvement” of one of the already existing bases that Iran is building to store and protect its missiles and drones.
This base must be quite large in size – the photo shows at least several armed F-4s. At the same time, it is also claimed that the new underground airbase will not only be used for storing aircraft and drones but also for their operation.
#Iran unveiled a new underground air base named "Eagle 44" pic.twitter.com/NFudhrbvZL
— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) February 7, 2023
That is, the base must be connected to the airstrip, have reserves of fuel and ammunition, maintenance and repair mean of protection, etc.
In general, Iran actively “buries” important components of its military potential deep underground in order to best protect itself from attacks by the enemy, although, of course, such underground complexes will become key targets for Iran’s opponents and do not guarantee one hundred percent security.
It will be recalled that it recently became known that Iran will help the Russian Federation to build a factory for the production of kamikaze drones: an Iranian delegation already visited the Russian Federation at the beginning of this year, where they considered the likely location of such a factory.
According to the plans, such a plant “in the coming years” will be able to produce at least 6,000 drones, although there are still doubts that the Russian Federation and Iran will be able to reach such a number in the announced “terms.”