Nevatim Airbase

Nevatim Airbase (Hebrew: בסיס נבטים, English: sprouts) (IATA: VTM, ICAO: LLNV), also Air Force Base 28, is an Israeli Air Force (IAF) base, located 15 km east-southeast of Beersheba, near moshav Nevatim in the northern Negev desert. It is one of the largest in Israel and has three runways of different lengths. Stealth fighter jets, transport aircraft, tanker aircraft and machines for electronic reconnaissance/surveillance, as well as the Wing of Zion, are stationed there. The airbase has long been under discussion for dual use – military and civilian – as an airport for the growing city of Beersheba (see International Airport).
As early as 1947, a rough runway was built here in the northern Negev Desert for the Sherut Avir, the air wing of the Haganah. The former airfield was named Malhata after the archaeological site Tel Malhata (see photos in the gallery below) northeast of today's northern runway within the airbase (31°13′02″N 35°01′33″E﻿ / ﻿31.217196°N 35.025708°E﻿ / 31.217196; 35.025708﻿ (Tel Malhata)).
In 1958, the site was earmarked for the construction of a future international airport for the city of Beersheba and its surroundings, which would replace the local airport located to the northwest, which was not suitable for development as a modern major airport.
In 1966, an inter-ministerial committee was set up to study the possibility of building an international airport in the Beersheba region, but in practice this issue was not further promoted.
The today's modern airbase was built from 1980 and reopened in 1983 with initially two runways as the result of joint Israeli and US government funding as part of the IAF's redeployment out of its bases in the Sinai after the peninsula was returned to Egypt following the Camp David Accords. From 1979 to 1982 Ramon Airbase and Ovda Airbase were also built in the Negev – mainly by US companies.
For the construction of the Nevatim Airbase in the early 1980s, some Israeli Bedouins had to be relocated outside the planned area. They were financially compensated for this, and efforts are still being made to maintain a good relationship with them.
The 116 Squadron "Lions Of The South" with A-4N Skyhawk Ayit light fighter jets was relocated in 1983 from Tel Nof Airbase to the newly established Nevatim Airbase 70 km further south and was its first fighter jet squadron. The A-4N jets remained in service there until 2002, when the squadron was temporarily disbanded.
In 2003 it was reopened with F-16A/B Netz jets as the "Defenders Of The South", which had been transferred here from the 253 Squadron "Negev" at Ramon Airbase. Three squadrons at Ramon received new F-16I Sufa jets during that time, adapted to Israeli needs. In the summer of 2015, all F-16 jets at Nevatim were decommissioned and the squadron was disbanded.
In the 1960s, the 116 Squadron at Tel Nof Airbase flew the French-made Dassault Mystère IV. As a reminiscence of this, a Mystère IV jet from that era was placed on a grassy hill near the east gate of Nevatim Airbase, with its nose pointing steeply into the sky (see photo right above). A number of other aircraft from ancient times are also on display in a park there (31°12′30″N 35°03′10″E﻿ / ﻿31.208246°N 35.052759°E﻿ / 31.208246; 35.052759﻿ (Airplane park at Nevatim Airbase)).
In November 2019, the 116 Squadron "Lions Of The South" was reopened at Nevatim Airbase with new F-35I Adir stealth jets from the US. It is expected to reach its full size with 25 aircraft towards the end of the 2020s, like the other two F-35 squadrons.
The 117 Squadron "First Jet" was established in 1953 at Ramat David Airbase as the first fighter jet squadron of the Israeli Air Force and has participated in all of Israel's wars and combat operations since then. It operated the Gloster Meteor F.8, the Mirage IIICJ and the F-16A/B/C.
On 1 July 2021, the 117 Squadron "First Jet" was reopened at Nevatim with F-35I jets. It will initially serve as a training squadron for the other two F-35I squadrons until sufficient F-35s have been delivered from the US, and will then become an active operational squadron.
The 140 Squadron "Golden Eagle", which operated from 1973 with A-4H/N Skyhawk Ayit, was relocated in 1982 from the abandoned Etzion Airbase in the Sinai to the newly established Ramon Airbase in the Negev and continued as a fighter and training squadron until it was finally closed down in 1985. One year later, in 1986, it was reopened at Nevatim with F-16A/B Netz fighter jets, which were pulled together from other bases here. It was not until 2013 that this squadron was closed and its remaining F-16A/B jets were handed over to the 116 Squadron "Defenders Of The South" – also at Nevatim.
The F-16A jet #243 (see photo in the gallery below) was involved in Operation Opera on 7 June 1981, the destruction of the Iraqi nuclear reactor Osirak. It was flown by Ilan Ramon (1954–2003) and took off from Etzion Airbase for the operation, and it received a corresponding triangular symbol afterwards. At that time, this F-16A belonged to 110 Squadron "Knights Of The North" at Ramat David, later to 140 Squadron "Golden Eagle" at Nevatim, as can be seen in the photo below.
In December 2016, the 140 Squadron "Golden Eagle" was reopened at Nevatim and was the first squadron in Israel (and outside the USA) to receive the new stealth fighter jet F-35I with the Hebrew designation Adir.
While transport and tanker aircraft as well as reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft are stationed on the southern area of the airbase with one runway, the northern area with its two runways is reserved for the three squadrons with F-35I stealth fighter jets. Two other runways located there are no longer in operation. This can be clearly seen on satellite images. The southern runway, built in 2008, is 3,900 metres long and was the longest runway in the Middle East at the time.
Since December 2016, new F-35I Adir (The Mighty One) fighter jets have been stationed at Nevatim. Israel buys them from a US manufacturer consortium around Lockheed Martin, modified according to its needs. A total of 75 of these stealth jets have been ordered so far, which are to be delivered by the end of the 2020s. This will fill up three squadrons, all of which are already set up at Nevatim and will reach full strength by that time. These are the 116 Squadron "Lions Of The South", the 117 Squadron "First Jet" and the 140 Squadron "Golden Eagle", all of which have a longer history on other bases and with other aircraft (see above and also Units).
Parallel to the introduction of the F-35I, a flight simulator was also installed at Nevatim, which is intended to familiarize new pilots with the aircraft before they sit in the cockpit for the first time and to familiarize experienced pilots with combat situations without putting themselves in danger. After a year-long testing and training phase, Israel officially declared the base's first eight F-35Is operational at the beginning of December 2017. On 22 May 2018, Israel's then Air Force commander, Major General Amikam Norkin, reported that Israel became the first country in the world to use the F-35 in combat during recent clashes with Iran in Syria. In July 2019, Nevatim-based F-35Is twice attacked Iranian missile depots located north and northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
The Boeing 707 Re'em tanker aircraft, which date back to the 1970s and have been stationed at Nevatim since 2008, will be gradually replaced by the newer Boeing KC-46A Pegasus. At the beginning of 2021, Israel signed a preliminary contract for initially two tanker aircraft; in the medium term, up to eight examples are planned, which are to be delivered from around 2025. In November 2024, it was announced that Boeing had begun production of the first of four tanker aircraft for Israel and that there's an option for eight more. In addition, new large hangars will be built for all Pegasus tankers.
The 122 Squadron "Nachshon", which has existed since 1971, operates several Gulfstream jets in different configurations at Nevatim: three GV SEMA Shavit aircraft since 2005, five G550 CAEW Eitam aircraft since 2008 and the G550 ELINT/COMINT Oron since 2021, all of them for various tasks, such as electronic reconnaissance and surveillance, early warning, photo reconnaissance, etc. also for the Israeli Navy. The purchase of additional machines of the latest type is in progress.
The Nevatim Airbase is also the home base of the so-called Israeli Air Force One, a converted Boeing 767 for international visits by the President of Israel or the Prime Minister. Officially called Wing of Zion, it is operated by the IAF and has its own hangar at Nevatim. The purchase and maintenance of this machine are very controversial in Israel, which led to it being shut down before it was put into operation in 2022. After Benjamin Netanyahu was re-elected as Prime Minister at the end of 2022, the Wing of Zion was finally put into operation in the course of 2023 and made its first official flight in July 2024.
Since the international Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv has been reaching its capacity limits for years, there are considerations to convert one of Israel's military airbases completely or partially into a civilian airport or to expand it accordingly. In addition to a complete conversion of Ramat David Airbase in the north of Israel, a dual use of Nevatim Airbase is being discussed, as it could be expanded without major problems because it is surrounded by desert with only few settlements. The proximity to the growing city Beersheba (around 15 km) also speaks for this. The IAF is strongly opposed to this proposal as it believes it would restrict military flight movements too much.
At the end of January 2025, the Knesset decided to have a plan drawn up by the end of the year on how an international airport could be set up at Nevatim. This does not mean that it will actually be built, but all options will first be examined as to how and where an airport can be built there. However, the events after 7 October 2023 have also shown how intensively the IAF uses the Nevatim airbase to carry out all of its tasks, such as the intensive operations in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, in Lebanon and Syria, the long-range retaliatory strikes in Iran and against the Houthis in Yemen. If a dual airport in Nevatim comes about, operations from there like in the past will no longer be possible.
After the US Air Force announced in early March 2024 that its F-35 stealth jets are now certified for use with B61-12 atomic bombs, there is an increasing discussion about whether the Israeli F-35I Adir at Nevatim are also capable of transporting and dropping Israeli nuclear weapons. For this purpose, these weapons would have to be stored on the base in specially secured bunkers.
In April 2024 the air base suffered an attack from Iran as part of the 2024 Iran–Israel conflict; according to an analysis of satellite images by Associated Press, there was only minor damage.
In the October 2024 Iranian attack, videos geolocated by CNN showed a significant number of Iranian missiles hitting the base. Iranian media reported that several of Israel's most advanced aircraft had been destroyed, without providing evidence to support this assertion.
The IDF stated: "Tonight's Iranian ballistic missile attack has had no operational impact on the IAF and its ongoing airstrikes against terror targets in both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon". Flight route records indicated that a significant portion of the IAF's Boeing 707 and C-130 aircraft were on station off the Israeli coast, either to support IAF fighter activity or put into the air for their own safety in anticipation of attacks on the air bases.
Satellite images taken after the attack showed four apparent impacts of Iranian missiles at the base. One caused a large hole in the roof of a hangar complex near the southern runway. Another missile appeared to have struck a road on the base. The IDF said Iranian missiles damaged "office buildings and other maintenance areas" at its air bases but that no soldiers, weapons or aircraft were hit.
⃰ SEMA = Special Electronic Mission Aircraft, CAEW = Conformal Airborne Early Warning, ELINT = Electronic Intelligence, COMINT = Communication Intelligence
Note: IAF aircraft can usually be assigned to their squadron by the symbols on the tail or the air intakes