Beale Air Force Base
Beale Air Force Base (AFB) (IATA: BAB, ICAO: KBAB, FAA LID: BAB) is a United States Air Force base in California. It is outside Linda, about 10 miles (16 km) east of the towns of Marysville and Yuba City, and about 40 miles (64 km) north of Sacramento.
Beale Air Force Base
US Air Force base
Air Combat Command (ACC)
Operational
1940 (as Camp Beale)
1948 – present
Colonel Geoffrey Church
34 metres (112 ft) AMSL
The host unit at Beale is the 9th Reconnaissance Wing (9 RW), assigned to the Sixteenth Air Force, Air Combat Command. The Wing collects intelligence essential for presidential and Congressional decisions critical to the national defense. The Wing flies the USAF fleet of Lockheed U-2 "Dragon Ladies" and Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, and operates associated ground support equipment. It also maintains a high state of readiness in its combat support and combat service support forces, ready to deploy to carry out military operations.
The 940th Air Refueling Wing (940 ARW) is a tenant Air Force Reserve Command wing at Beale AFB flying the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, operationally gained by Air Mobility Command (AMC).
Beale AFB was established in 1942 as Camp Beale and is named for Edward Fitzgerald Beale (1822–1893), a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and a Brigadier General in the California Militia, who was an explorer and frontiersman in California. Camp Beale became a United States Air Force installation on 1 April 1951 and was renamed Beale Air Force Base.
The 9th Reconnaissance Wing is composed of four groups at Beale AFB and various overseas operating locations.
The 940th Air Refueling Wing is composed of three groups, a headquarters element, and a non-group assigned squadron, the 940th Aerospace Medicine Squadron. The 713th Combat Operations Squadron was previously assigned to the 940th Wing and operationally gained by Pacific Air Forces. In April 2016, the 713th COS was realigned from the 940th Wing to the newly established 610th Air Operations Group along with two sister squadrons, the 710th COS and 701st COS, when the 940th Wing regained its KC-135 refueling mission.[3]
Beale AFB
United States
California
10.10 sq mi (26.17 km2)
10.09 sq mi (26.14 km2)
0.01 sq mi (0.03 km2) 0.10%
197 ft (60 m)
1,303
129.10/sq mi (49.85/km2)
UTC-7 (PDT)
2407813
Government[edit]
In the California State Legislature, Beale AFB is in the 4th Senate District, represented by Democrat Marie Alvarado-Gil, and the 3rd Assembly District, represented by Republican James Gallagher.[29]
In the United States House of Representatives, Beale AFB is in California's 3rd congressional district, represented by Republican Kevin Kiley.[30]
Protests[edit]
Beale Air Force Base has had repeated protests by the Climate Action, anti-war, and anti-drone group Occupy Beale.
On the morning of 19 October, 2023[31] three climate protesters with Occupy Beale were detained by military police after crossing the demarcation line as a statement of how they are willing to risk arrest for the climate. Two of protesters were charged with illegally entering a military base, while the third protester was released without a charge. During the process of the detainment the Schneider gate was closed shutting down access to the base through the gate for several hours.
On 14 March, 2024 protesters associated with Occupy Beale blockaded the Schneider and Wheatland Gates of Beale AFB in protest of the Israel–Hamas war.[32] Simultaneously activists with protest group Code Pink blockaded the North Gate of Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California.[33]
Amateur radio restrictions[edit]
The US Code of Federal Regulations specifies that amateur radio operators within 240 kilometers of Beale must not transmit with more than 50 watts of power on the 70-centimeter band.[34]
