Combat support airfield

The combat support airfield was a structure added in Kane's Wrath, employed in the Third Tiberium War by GDI commanders to supplement regular airfields.
==Background==
It was equipped with the facilities needed to repair, refuel, and rearm four VTOL aircraft such as the Orca or Firehawk.
The Combat Support Airfield bore many similarities to the mainline airfield; it was capable of holding up to four VTOL aircraft (namely, the Orca and the Firehawk), and was capable of providing them fuel, repairs, and replacing expended ammunition should they have sustained damage. Any nearby friendly aircraft, whether they were of VTOL in design or not, would be repaired by the drones accompanying the structure. The support airfield was also smaller than that of a standard airfield, and thus more could deployed in areas with tighter space - also increasing the number of such landing pad-bound aircraft a commander could have on the field.
However, they possessed one key distinction between airfields: they were unable to produce aircraft by themselves, and therefore were by no means a replacement for a lost airfield when it came to producing aircraft. This also means that, in order to construct a combat support airfield, the commander must also have an airfield on the battlefield.
Interestingly, these structures were never seen during GDI's various troop movements throughout the Third Tiberium War, not even in either of the two GDI airbases that would become battlegrounds after the Nod invasion.
The next-generation aircraft deployed in the Fourth Tiberium War no longer had any need for a specific structure to rearm and refuel, and thus these buildings were not deployed by commanders of that era.
==Game Unit==
The combat support airfield was buildable in the "support structures" tab, from both the construction yard and from cranes.
Though a strategy that requires much micromanagement, it is possible for GDI commanders to use the lower cost of the combat support airfield to save credits when creating a large number of VTOL aircraft. Instead of building new airfields whenever one is completely occupied, one could build a combat support airfield instead, for half the price, and reassign the aircraft on the airfield to the support airfield instead, thus freeing up the airfield's landing pads and allowing another four aircraft to be built. It is worth noting, however, that both the cost ($500) and the hit points of the support airfield (2000) are half of that of the original airfield ($1000 and 4000 respectively), and thus these structures are far more fragile.
Despite being christened as the GDI combat support airfield, any VTOL aircraft can land on the pad so long as their allegiance is to the player who owns the support airfield in question.
===Global Conquest===
If there are Orcas and/or Firehawks in a Strike Force, a combat support airfield will be instantly constructed in the Strike Force's spawn location to accommodate them in a Real-Time battle. More combat support airfields will be constructed depending on the number of aircraft in the Strike Force.
However, as the combat support airfield drains power, this shuts down the radar, forcing the player to depower the combat support airfield if they require radar, especially when controlling a Strike Force without an MCV (and therefore without any means to gain power). The only disadvantage depowering brings is that damaged aircraft will not be repaired.
==Multiplayer issue==
In multiplayer, building a combat support airfield will cause a desync and end the match. Intentional use of this error is considered an offence on the C&C:Online server. The unofficial 1.02+ patch fixed this issue in Releases 6 and newer.
==Gallery==
CombatSupportAirfield CC3 Game1.jpg|Combat support airfield with Orca and Firehawk
==See also==
* Air support tower, Nod counterpart
Category:Kane's Wrath support structures