Airport type Naval air facility Operator United States Navy | Owner Ministry of Defence In use 1971–present | |
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Location Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory Built 1971–1976; Major extensions 1982–1986 | ||
Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia is a facility of the United States Navy located on Diego Garcia.
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Mission
Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia provides Base Operating Services to tenant commands located on the island. The command's mission is "To provide logistic support to operational forces forward deployed to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf AORs in support of national policy objectives."
As of January 2012, the facility supported the following tenant commands:
Naval and military construction and operations 1977–2006
On 1 October 1977, Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, was established as the senior United States Navy command on the island. At the time the NAVCOMMSTA was the primary tenant, but as new major facilities were completed, most notably the expanded anchorage and mooring area and the extended airfield, other tenants were commissioned.
In 1980, the United States Navy established the Near-Term Prepositioned Force of 16 ships. Then NTPF became the Afloat Prepositioning Force (AFP) and eventually Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron Two (MPSRON 2) consisting of 20 deep-water pre-positioned logistics ships anchored in the lagoon.
In 1981, the naval air facility was commissioned. It was decommissioned in 1987 and its responsibilities returned to the Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia.
In 1982, construction activities were transferred from the Seabees to a consortium of civilian contractors, Raymond International, and Brown and Root and Molem, a joint venture. Raymond had deep-draft wharf and waterfront skills, Brown and Root had concrete and infrastructure skills, and Molem was an English firm known for taking on challenging projects. The majority of the projects were completed by 1988.
On 26 March 1982, Barbara Shuping and five other women were assigned to the Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia. Prior to this assignment, no women had lived on the island since those on the plantation in 1971.
In 1985; the new port facilities were completed and the USS Saratoga (CV-60) was the first aircraft carrier to tie up.
The Strategic Air Command began deploying Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers and aerial refueling aircraft to the newly completed airfield facilities in 1987.
Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, three ships of COMPSRON 2 sortied, delivering a Marine Expeditionary Brigade to Saudi Arabia for participation in the Gulf War. Other COMPSRON 2 ships offloaded the ammunition and fuel on Diego Garcia that were required for the American bomber fleet that deployed to the airfield. Subsequently, B-52G bombers flew more than 200 17-hour bombing missions over 44 days and dropped more than 800,000 short tons (730,000,000 kg) of bombs on Iraqi forces in Iraq and Kuwait. One of the B-52s crashed from mechanical failures just north of the island with the loss of three of its six-man crew.
Beginning on 7 October 2001, the United States again commenced military operations from Diego Garcia using B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers to attack enemy targets in Afghanistan following the attacks on New York City and the Pentagon. On 12 December 2001, a B-1 bomber was lost to mechanical failures just after take off from the island, but the crew survived and was rescued by the USS Russell (DDG-59). Combat operations resumed in the spring of 2003, with MPSRON 2 sortieing to the Persian Gulf for the Iraq War, and bombing operations began again, this time against Iraq. Bomber operations ceased from Diego Garcia on 15 August 2006.