Pratica di Mare Air Base

Pratica di Mare Air Base (ICAO: LIRE) is a military airport of the Italian Air Force. It was installed in Pomezia, Lazio, Italy; southwest of Rome, Italy in 1937. In 1957, it was named after Colonnello Mario de Bernardi. It is the biggest Italian air base. A particular detail is that the base is located 2.5 km (1.6 mi) from the village of Pratica di Mare, a small Middle Aged-styled town, which is built on the old acropolis of Lavinium.

Pratica di Mare Air Base
Summary
Airport typeMilitary
OperatorAeronautica Militare
LocationPomezia, Rome
Elevation AMSL42 ft / 13 m
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
13L/31R 2,480 8,138 Asphalt
13/31
(CLOSED)
2,540 8,335 Asphalt
Source: DAFIF[1]

The bases houses a "Dragon Star" Airborne Multi-Intelligence Laboratory (a modified Gulfstream III) used for ISTAR.[2]

References

  1. Airport information for LIRE at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.Source: DAFIF.
  2. "Lockheed Martin's "Dragon Star" Airborne Multi-Intelligence Laboratory at work". The Aviationist. June 7, 2013. Known as “Dragon Star”, the Airborne Multi-Intelligence Laboratory (AML) is a specially configured Gulfstream III (registered N30LX) transformed into a flying test bed with a wide array of sensors forseen [sic?] by a configuration developed by LM for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) persistent operations. Since it was deployed to Pratica di Mare, the aircraft has been used by the Italian Air Force in a live operational environment.




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