Soto Cano Air Base Soto Cano Air Base ( commonly known as Palmerola Air Base ) is a Honduran military base to the south of Comayagua in Honduras . It houses between 500 - 600 US troops and is also used by the Honduran Air Force academy . The airbase became operational in 1981 , changing the old location the Honduras Air Force Academy in Toncontin , Tegucigalpa to Palmerola . The US government once used Palmerola as a base of operations to support their foreign policy objectives in the 1980s . Now the U . S . military uses Soto Cano as a launching point for its war on drugs efforts in Central America as well as humanitarian aid missions throughout Honduras and Central America . In addition to the Honduran Air Force Academy , the US military ' s Joint Task Force Bravo ( JTF - B ) is headquartered at Soto Cano . JTF - B consists of Medical Element - Military Hospital , Army Forces , Air Force Forces , Joint Security Forces , and the 1st Battalion - 228th Aviation Regiment ( consisting of some 18 aircraft , a mix of UH - 60 Black Hawk helicopters and CH - 47 Chinook helicopters ) . About Soto Cano and JTF - Bravo command and structure . José Enrique Soto Cano Air Base is a Honduras military installation and home of the Honduras Air Force and Honduras Air Force Academy . It is located less than from Comayagua ( population : 33 , 000 ) , and from the Honduras capital , Tegucigalpa . The base is about ; lies in the Comayagua Valley and is ringed by mountain peaks to the east and west . Soto Cano sits at an elevation of above sea level . The American contingent at Soto Cano Air Base is designated Joint Task Force - Bravo and consists of both U . S . military personnel and Honduran civilians . They work in six different major support commands including the Joint Staff , 612th Air Base Squadron , Army Forces , Joint Security Forces and Medical Element . The sixth MSC is a tenant unit also based at Soto Cano . The 1st Battalion , 228th Aviation Regiment , a U . S . Army South asset , provides aerial support for the JTF - Bravo mission . The Joint - Staff provides command and control for JTF - B . The 612 ABS has among its functions ; weather forecasting , fire protection , and maintaining a 24 - hour C - 5 Galaxy - capable runway . The Army Forces operate finance , personnel and airborne operations . Joint Security Forces consists of Air Force and Army force protection personnel who patrol the base and provide gate guard duty alongside their Honduran counterparts . Health care services are performed by the Medical Element . The 1st Battalion , 228th Aviation Regiment performs a variety of airlift support missions throughout Central and South America with UH - 60 Black Hawk and CH - 47 Chinook helicopters . U . S . forces are guests on the base which is the home of the Honduran Air Force Academy . Soto Cano is not a U . S . installation as some media report . Infrastructure . The Constitution of Honduras does not permit a permanent foreign presence in Honduras . A " handshake " agreement between the United States and Honduras allows JTF - Bravo to remain in Honduras on a " semi - permanent " basis . This agreement , an annex to the 1954 military assistance agreement between the United States and Honduras , can be abrogated with little notice . Soto Cano lodging for U . S . personnel there consists of " hooches " and a tin roof with air conditioners and fans for cooling . Metal dormitories are more permanent structures and have air conditioning . Both contain beds and other furniture , televisions , refrigerators and microwaves . The hooches and metal barracks have no running water . However , latrines , shower facilities and laundry rooms are centrally located to the living areas . Dayrooms , volleyball courts , barbecues and " bohios " ( covered picnic areas ) are also located throughout the base . All the domestic facilities , like the post office , library , dining facility , fitness center , pool and base exchange , are clustered together within a five - minute walking distance . Apartments and dormitories are replacing some of the 270 wooden hooches used for decades by permanent party personnel that are now used by permanent party and temporary duty personnel . Most permanent party personnel are stationed at JTF - Bravo for several months and the assignment is treated as a remote assignment , much like assignments to Republic of Korea . Plans call for the construction to take place over the coming years with all base facilities to either be new construction , or receive major upgrades . A big improvement with new construction will be the indoor plumbing and central air conditioning in the new buildings . Currently , metal and wooden dormitories each have an air conditioning unit , but no running water . In addition , the new buildings will lessen the requirement for constant maintenance . As of January 2008 , all 44 of the apartment buildings were finished and already occupied . Additional four - unit apartment buildings , or " quads , " are scheduled to be built in 2009 . When construction on the dormitories would begin remains unclear . All military personnel live on the installation ; contractors live off base on the local economy . Contractors and foreign national employees are the only personnel allowed to drive personal vehicles on base and the majority of people walk or ride bicycles . Because the base is so compact , it poses no problem getting around . Personnel assigned to Soto Cano can ride a bus that will transport them to Soto Cano from Tegucigalpa . The bus runs in conjunction with arrival and departure times . Civil aviation . In 1990 Honduran President Rafael Leonardo Callejas decreed that commercial cargo flights were authorized to operate from Soto Cano . In 2008 President Manuel Zelaya announced that commercial flights would begin at Palmerola within a period of 60 days , after a crash at Toncontín International Airport which resulted in 5 deaths was blamed on the runway being too short at Toncontín . Following an investigation into the incident , Pilot error was found to be the main cause . The military was placed in charge of building a civilian air terminal with funding from the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas ( enabled by emergency decrees ) . This however was cancelled after Zelaya was removed from office on June 28 , 2009 in the 2009 Honduran coup d ' état .