Taszár Air Base 3.84

Taszár Air Base is a military air base located near Taszár, a village in Somogy county, Hungary. It is 10km east of Kaposvár.GlobalSecurity.org says that "In 1949 the new airfield, which is still in use today, was constructed using conscripted labor. The new runways were hard-topped and became the base of the Hungarian 50th Fighter Regiment. On September 1, 1958, the Defense Ministry made the decision to reorganize the structure of the Hungarian Air Force. It was at this time that the 31st Fighter Regiment was ordered to form. Independent training within the 31st began in 1959. A quantum jump in the quality of training was the introduction of the MiG-19 in 1959, and the introduction of the MiG-21 in 1962."From December 1995, it became the primary staging post for U.S. peacekeeping forces coming and going into the Balkans. It was the closest airfield to the Balkans capable of landing strategic aircraft, with good rail and road links. The base then evolved into the first site for unmanned Predator aircraft missions, a rest and recreation site for Balkan-based soldiers, a training ground for armored units and a home base for aircraft that made reconnaissance and bombing runs to stop ethnic-cleansing in Kosovo.In 1999 the airbase was used by the United States Marine Corps as a base for aircraft supporting Operation Allied Force in Kosovo. During Operation Joint Forge (1998-2004) the National Support Element (NSE) of the U.S. Army (consisting of approximately 250 U.S. Army personnel) was located at the airbase. In late 2000 the NSE's designation was changed to United States Army Support Element Tasar (USASET).