Iraqi Air Force use before 1991 Al Taqaddum Airbase was known as "Tammuz Airbase" (Tammuz being the
Assyrian month that the
14 July revolution happened in Iraq), and various
Iraqi Air Force units and squadrons used it. The airbase was bombed in
Operation Kaman 99, the day after the beginning of the
Iran–Iraq War. Units and squadrons present before 2003: •
14th Squadron Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 •
73rd Squadron Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 •
6th Squadron Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 •
5th Squadron Sukhoi Su-22 •
105th Squadron Sukhoi Su-25s •
109th Squadron Sukhoi Su-25s Fifty-one different Iraqi Air Force aircraft were found hidden under camouflage nets near al-Taqaddum by the
Australian Special Air Service. Although still only scant details are known about these aircraft, US and British military sources reported that these 51 aircraft included three MiG-25s (including a single MiG-25PU two-seater), a Su-25K and a Su-7U, a MiG-29, several F-7Bs and Su-22UM-3Ks, as well as one Ilushin Il-76 transport. U.S. forces also found the hulks of five remaining Iraqi
Tupolev Tu-22B "Blinder" supersonic bombers. All were still sitting in the revetments where they had been hit and destroyed by Coalition air attacks in 1991. Near them the wreckage of the Adnan-1 AEW aircraft, a third example was found, also destroyed by air attacks in 1991, as well as the wreck of the last Iraqi Tu-16 or H-6D bomber, which survived 1991, and was made operational in 2000 again: this old bomber was observed in flight – together with the sole surviving Iraqi Su-24MK – as late as February 2003, but was then obviously hit by US air strikes. The last Iraqi Su-24MK was apparently captured intact, and there are rumours that it was meanwhile flown to the US as well. Another rarity reported to have survived the war at al-Taqaddum were several Ilyushin Il-28 "Beagle" bombers, including one Il-28U training aircraft. Supplied to the IrAF in 1960, this aircraft must have certainly seen quite some service history: they were used during
the extensive campaigns against
Kurdish rebels, in the
1960s,
mid-1970s, and
mid-1980s during the war against Iran.
1991 Gulf War At 12:30AM on January 17, 1991, aircraft from
CVW-17 on the
USS Saratoga CV-60 and
CVW-3 from the
USS John F. Kennedy CV-67, launched to attack Tammuz Air Base. The main strike was escorted by three
EA-6B Prowlers from
VQ-130, two sections of
F-14A Tomcats from
VF-32. Before the Navy aircraft arrived,
F-117A Nighthawks attacked the Joint Integrated Operations Center &
GCI Radar Facility at Tammuz Air Base.
AA-310, an
A-7E Corsair II from
VA-46 piloted by Jeffery Greer fired
ADM-141 TALD decoys, forcing the Iraqi radars to be activated.
AGM-88 HARMs from
A-6E SWIPs, A-7Es and
F/A-18Cs were then expended against the SAM sites near the base and West Baghdad, followed by jamming by the EA-6B Prowlers. A MiG-25 from Tammuz also took part in the
Samurra Air Battle on January 30, 1991. Another MiG-25 and it were chased back but landed safely at Tammuz.
2003 U.S. invasion The Iraqi airbase was long-abandoned when
U.S. forces occupied it in March 2003. The
U.S. Army started to refer to the base as Forward Operating Base (FOB) Ridgway. The first U.S. Battalion to occupy the base was the
142nd Corps Support Battalion. The primary mission of the 142nd was to provide logistical support to nearby non-divisional Army units. However, a consequential mission of the 800 soldier battalion was to guard the local Iraqi ammunition storage area that at one time supplied the ammunition requirements of the defunct Iraqi airbase. Aviation elements of the 3rd ACR occupied the airfield from April 2003 until replaced by 82nd Airborne Division in July 2003. In 2004, the base name was changed to
Camp Taqaddum to keep a more Iraqi face on the local military mission. "TQ" served as a major hub of men and materiel moving into Anbar province by coalition forces in
Operation Iraqi Freedom. of Massachusetts,
Ted Stevens of Alaska, and
John Warner of Virginia in Al Taqaddum According to the
Gulf War Air Power Survey, there were 24
Hardened Aircraft Shelters at Al Taqaddum. At each end of the main runway are hardened aircraft shelters knowns as a HAS (pronounced Haas), "trapezoids" or "Yugos" which were built by
Yugoslavian contractors some time prior to 1985. Various units of the U.S. Army found numerous MIG-21,
MiG 25 and
Su 25 Iraqi Air Force fighter jets partially buried in the area, presumably from the time of the
Gulf War. By January 2004, almost all of the dozens of aircraft had been removed by the local citizens and burned, evidently, for scrap metal. There are three "sides" to Al Taqaddum, "Lake Side", "Main Side", and "Spring Lake". These sides denote particular areas. Each area has its own chow hall and phone center. The PX and main military support services are located on "Main Side". "Lake Side" hosts the air terminal and the primary supply depot. "Spring Lake" hosts other logistics units. TQ is adjacent to
Lake Habbaniyah. This lake varies in colors, blue some days, to a greenish tint on others. The base is built on a desolate plateau overlooking the Euphrates River to the north and Lake Habbaniyah to the south. A drainage canal from Lake Habbaniyah flows between it and the base at
Habbaniyah. In late 2009 Al Taqaddum was turned back over to the Iraqi Military.
Greene Field On August 22, 2004, a group of Marines dedicated the airfield at Al Taqaddum to Lt. Col. David S. Greene, a reserve Marine AH-1W Super Cobra pilot with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 775, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, who was killed in action July 28, 2004. Greene was flying a mission in support of I Marine Expeditionary Force when he was killed by small arms fire.
List of Marine Corps units since 2004 • Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) Special Unit - (To install Armor on all HMMWV (Humvee)) 2004-2006 2nd TSB transportation support battalion (known now as 2nd MSG Marine logistics Group) • 1st Force Service Support Group 2004-2005 • 8th Communications Battalion (February 2005 to February 2006, USMC- Camp Lejeune, NC) https://www.iimef.marines.mil/Units/8th-Communication-Battalion/ •
8th Engineer Support Battalion between 2005 and 2006 (USMC - Camp Lejeune) •
Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM-263) July 2004 - Feb 2005 • Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM-364) Feb 2005 - Sept 2005 •
HMM-268 during 2006. •
HMM-161 from February to September 2007. •
HMM-161 from September 2008 to April 2009. •
HMLA-367 from October 2006 to May 2007 •
HMLA-169 from November 2007 to October 2008. •
HMLA-369 from October 2008 to May 2009 •
Marine Wing Support Squadron 372 (MWSS 372) November 2005. •
Marine Wing Support Squadron 373 (MWSS 373) August 2004, September 2006 to March 2007 and September 2008 to April 2009. •
MWSS 374 2004, March 2006 and 2008. •
MWSS 371 between February 2005 and September 2005. •
MWSS-274 between 2007 and 2008. •
MWSS-272 between 2007 and 2008. •
VMU-1 between 2005 and 2009. •
Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 16 (MALS-16), Detachment A from March 2006. •
Marine Air Control Squadron 2 (MACS-2), Detachment A from July 2006 until August 2007. ==Current use==