Al Taqaddum Air Base Habbaniyah Plateau FOB Ridgeway | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Military: Airbase | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Iraqi Armed Forces | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Al Fallujah, Iraq | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Habbaniyah | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 275 ft / 84 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 33°20′22″N 043°35′24″E / 33.33944°N 43.59000°E | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  Al Taqaddum Air Base | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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No ILS | |||||||||||||||
Al Taqaddum Airbase (Arabic: قاعدة التقدم الجوية) or Al Taqaddum AB (IATA: TQD, ICAO: ORAT), called TQ in military shorthand slang, is an air base that is located in central Iraq, approximately 74 kilometers (46 miles) west of Baghdad, at Habbaniyah. The airfield is served by two runways 13,000 and 12,000 feet (3,700 m) long. Since 2004, it has been known as Camp Taqaddum. ("Taqaddum" is an Arabic word which means "progress".) It was formerly known as Tammuz Airbase.
The airbase was originally built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1952 as the subsidiary Plateau Airfield of nearby RAF Habbaniya, whose runway was inadequate for the larger long range and jet aircraft being introduced. The original RAF runway was subsequently extended by the Iraqis and a parallel runway added. Some of the RAF buildings (Nissen huts) were still standing in 2003.