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The question of what the world’s longest military airbase runways are is somewhat more difficult to answer than it may seem, as many airports around the world are dual-use (military/civilian). Another factor is what counts as a runway, as there are ice runways on the ice in Antarctica and dry unpaved lakebed runways in California. This article will include the longest dual-use runway and the longest lake-bed runway, but it will otherwise focus on military base-only runways.
The US dominates the list of the longest military runways for multiple reasons, like that some airports were designed to support space missions. Another reason is the US’s massive emphasis on strategic transport and strategic bomber missions. Russia, inheriting from the Soviet Union, also doesn’t operate extra-long dedicated military runways, and the longest dedicated military runway is either Ukrainka or Engels, both of which measure around 11,500 feet (3,505 meters).
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Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco
13,720/15,720 feet (4,182/4,791 meters)
Ben Guerir Air Base is a Royal Moroccan Air Force base located in the country’s Marraksh-Safi region near the famous city of Marrakech. It previously served as a United States Air Force Base and as a Transatlantic Abort Landing site for the Space Shuttle. The runway (18/36) has a paved runway length of 13,720 feet with another 1,000 feet of underrun and another 2,500 feet of compacted dirt overrun. This gives Ben Guerir Air Base a usable surface length of around 15,720 feet in extreme cases.
The runway was built to support US Strategic Air Command operations before being selected by NASA as an emergency site for the Space Shuttle in 1988. It was established in 1951 during the early Cold War as one of several forward bases in what was still French North Africa. US forces withdrew by 1963 as Morocco gained independence, and the US Air Force’s needs continued to evolve. The site was deactivated as a NASA Transatlantic Abort Landing site in 2005.
By that time, it had supported around 83 NASA missions in NASA’s contingency planning. Today, it is a key Royal Moroccan Air Force Base, and it hosts multiple Moroccan F-16 Fighting Falcon squadrons. It is well placed to be a future F-35 base if Morocco purchases the stealth fighter. Morocco is reported to be negotiating the purchase of the jet.
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Eielson Air Force Base
14,530 feet (4,429 meters)
Eielson Air Force Base is located in Alaska, close to Fairbanks, and, at 14,530 feet, its runway is one of the longest in the world. It is used by the US Air Force for Arctic training, including the famed Red Flag exercises with fighter jets from across the Air Force and US allies. The long runway helps it to accommodate heavy fuel loads and icy conditions in the frigid winter temperatures. Its runway is one of the most robust in the US military inventory owing to its extreme weather conditions.
The runway was extended in the late 1940s to its 14,500-foot length to support very heavy bombers and Strategic Air Command deployments forward toward the Soviet Union that had emerged as the US’s primary post-war rival. In the early Cold War, bombers rotated through the base, including B-29 Superfortresses, B-36 Peacemakers, and B-47 Stratojets.
The B-36 Peacemaker dwarfed the B-29. It came into service soon after the Second World War ended, and being extremely large and heavy, it needed long and robust runways to operate. Today, the bases’ host unit is the 354th Fighter Wing, assigned to the Eleventh Air Force of the Pacific Air Forces.
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Vandenberg Space Force Base, USA
15,000 feet (4,572 meters)
For the purposes of this article, US Space Force Bases will be counted as Air Force bases: after all, the two services are both in the wider Department of the Air Force. The Vandenberg Space Force Base is mostly used for space launches, and its runway (Runway 12/30) was previously designated an emergency landing site for the Space Shuttle.
Separately, the Space Force has also inherited the Air Force’s largest airbase by geographic area: Pituffik Space Base, formerly Thule Air Base in Greenland. It functions as the northernmost site for the US DoD’s missile warning and space surveillance.
Besides supporting space missions, the Vandenberg Space Force Base’s runway continues to service Air Force strategic transport aircraft like the C-5, C-17, and other large defense airframes. The 15,000-foot runway provides the benefit of an extra margin for aircraft performance, particularly when operating with heavy payloads.
The length is also helpful when operating in a wide range of weather conditions while increasing operational flexibility for military aircraft as they deploy to or from the Pacific theater. Vandenberg was first established as a US Army Air Forces airbase in 1941. It served as a US Air Force base from 1947 until 2021, when it was renamed as a Space Force base. The base’s host unit is Space Launch Delta 30, and it is common to see NASA, SpaceX, and other civil and commercial space launches at the base.
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Edwards Air Force Base, USA
15,024 feet (4,579 meters)
Edwards Air Force Base is notable for many things, including being the only airport to get mentioned twice on this list. The longest paved runway at Edwards is 05R/23L with a declared length of 15,024 feet. It is possibly the longest military-only paved runway in the world and is used for test aircraft and experimental operations.
Edwards AFB’s official website says that it is “the largest Air Force installation by land and home to the world’s largest runway.” It adds that “the wing oversees base day-to-day operations and provides support for over 10,000 military, federal civilian, and contract personnel assigned to a 481-square mile installation.” The host unit is the 412th Test Wing, which is responsible for the testing of new aircraft, weapons, software, and more for the US Air Force.
Notable events at Edwards include the flight of the Bell X-1 by Chuck Yeager that broke the sound barrier. It was also where the North American X-15 conducted its test flights and set speed records that have still not been broken. It hosted the first landings of the Space Shuttle as well as the 1986 around-the-world flight by the Rutan Voyager.
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Shigatse Peace Airport, China
16,404 feet (5,000 meters)
China did not develop a powerful air force until very recently, and its Xi’an Y-6 strategic bombers are comparatively small. The primary reason for China to have extra-long runways is the thin air of the Tibetan Plateau. Shigatse Peace Airport in Tibet, China, is a dual-use military and civilian airport that was formerly a PLA Air Force base and a joint civil airport. The airport is listed here as it is possibly the longest dual-use airport in the world.
While this list otherwise focuses on military airbases’ runways only, Shigatse gets an honorable mention. Shigatse is considered one of the world’s longest paved runways. Its length is because of the bases’ high altitude (12,408 feet). The thinner air means aircraft engines do not perform as optimally as at sea level, and aircraft require more runway to take off and land. Being in Tibet, Shigatse is one of the airbases the Chinese PLAAF uses when confronting India in the region.
Qamdo Bamda Airport is also in Tibet and used to have what was claimed to be the world record for the longest paved runway used for scheduled flight operations, at 18,045 feet in length. The airport sits at an even higher altitude than Shigatse at 14,219 feet. However, the runway was recently reconstructed, and it is now officially around 14,764 feet in length. The longest purely military Chinese runway is around 13,123 feet, but they are typically 9,000-12,000 feet in length.
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Edwards Air Force Base, USA
39,060 feet (11,905 meters)
Rogers Dry Lakebed is located at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California and is not a declared runway. However, if it is considered, then it easily becomes the longest at over 39,000 feet or 7.4 miles long. The primary paved concrete runway (called Runway 04R/22L) is 15,024 feet in length.
That runway directly connects to the Rogers Dry Lakebed, allowing the two to be combined in some capacity. At any rate, Rogers Dry Lakebed is one of the longest usable surfaces built and is used for testing experimental aircraft. It was also formally a landing site for the NASA Space Shuttle. NASA says that “there are seven ‘drawn on’ runways crisscrossing the surface of Rogers, with the longest extending 7.5 miles.”
Edwards has a total of three main paved runways. The longest is 05R/23L at 15,024 feet long (plus the lakebed extension). The next longest is 05L/23R at 12,000 feet long, which was built as a temporary replacement during renovations to the other two runways. The shortest is 07/25 at 8,000 feet in length. It is part of the South Base area and also has a large lakebed section. Altogether, Edwards can technically boast a total of 13 runways, far outstripping the eight at Chicago O’Hare.
