Al Rasheed Air Base is a major Iraqi Air Force base on the south east outskirts of Baghdad, in the Diyala Governorate of Iraq. It is located approximately 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) southeast of downtown Baghdad. The air base is served by an 8,300 foot long runway. According to the Gulf War Air Power Survey, there were 10 hardened aircraft shelters at Rasheed as of 1991. 109 Squadron which flies the Sukhoi Su-25 is based there. History Royal Air Force use Al Rasheed Air Base was originally a British Military base and airfield developed after the First World War and from 1922 became the main base for the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and called RAF Hinaidi. When the RAF built their new base at RAF Dhibban (renamed RAF Habbaniya on 1 May 1938), the RAF began, in 1936, to leave RAF Hinaidi Cantonment and when the move was complete in 1938 it was handed over to the Royal Iraqi Air Force. Iran–Iraq War The airbase was bombed in Operation Kaman 99, on the second day of the Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s, just after the Iraqi invasion of Iran, and was not operable for 69 days, according to Iranian reports. Iraqi military use prior to 2003 The Iraqi Military Intelligence Military Brigade stationed there included a rapid intervention battalion to respond to security threats in the Baghdad region. By early 1998, the 6th Special Republican Guard Battalion, stationed at al-Rashid barracks, was charged with responsibility to seal off the Shi'i "Saddam City" quarter and bombard it indiscriminately in case of mass revolt, as the Guard did in Najaf and Karbala in 1991. By April 2002, the government moved several units outside Al-Rasheed military camp. 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq On 31 March 2003, American warplanes bombed the barracks of the main training center of the Iraqi paramilitary forces in eastern Baghdad's Rustamiyah area. Later, the base was captured during the following 2003 invasion of Iraq in March–April 2003. In mid-April 2003, U.S. Navy Construction Battalion forces ("Seabees") roamed through a hastily deserted Iraqi military academy. The Seabees, from Port Hueneme's Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 Task Force Mike, set up camp in the military academy's sports stadium. Coalition military use Camp Falcon/FOB Falcon/Camp Loyalty In late September 2003, one major project for the 439th Engineer Battalion was the construction of Camp Falcon. They also finished repairing a compound for