Santa Maria Air Force Base

For the civilian use of this facility and airport information, see Santa Maria Airport (Rio Grande do Sul).

Santa Maria Air Force Base – ALA4 (IATA: RIA, ICAO: SBSM) is a base of the Brazilian Air Force, located in Santa Maria, Brazil.

Santa Maria Air Force Base
Base Aérea de Santa Maria
Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil
Entry of Santa Maria Air Force in 2013
Site information
Type	Air Force Base
Code	ALA4
Owner	Brazilian Air Force
Controlled by	Brazilian Air Force
Open to the public	No
Website	www.fab.mil.br/organizacoes/mostra/449
Location
SBSM Location in Brazil Show map of Rio Grande do Sul SBSM SBSM (Brazil) Show map of Brazil
Coordinates	29°42′39″S 053°41′32″W
Site history
Built	1945 (1945)
In use	1970-present
Garrison information
Current commander	Cel. Av. Wilson Paulo Corrêa Marques
Occupants	1st Squadron of the 10th Aviation Group 3rd Squadron of the 10th Aviation Group 5th Squadron of the 8th Aviation Group 1st Squadron of the 12th Aviation Group 4th Squadron of the 1st Communications and Control Group
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: RIA, ICAO: SBSM, LID: RS0003
Elevation	88 metres (289 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 11/29 2,694 metres (8,839 ft) Concrete 02/20 1,505 metres (4,938 ft) Asphalt
Sources: DECEA[1]

It shares some facilities with Santa Maria Airport.

History

In 1944 the then President of Brazil Getúlio Vargas allocated an area of 4 million square meters near Santa Maria with the purpose of building an aerodrome. The works were conducted on an urgent basis, with the collaboration of the United States Army and it was finally opened in April 1945.

Santa Maria Air Force Base was created on 18 December 1970 and was commissioned on 15 October 1971 and since then it has an active presence in the region.

Between 1971 and 2015, civil and military facilities were shared. However, in 2015 an agreement between the Brazilian Air Force and the Municipality of Santa Maria, transferred part of the facilities to the latter. The civil portion of the aerodrome is administered by the Municipality and the military portion by the Brazilian Air Force.^[2]

Units

The following units are based at Santa Maria Air Force Base:

• 1st Squadron of the 10th Aviation Group (1º/10ºGAv) Poker, using the AMX A-1M.^[3]
• 3rd Squadron of the 10th Aviation Group (3º/10ºGAv) Centauro, using the AMX A-1M.^[4]
• 5th Squadron of the 8th Aviation Group (5º/8ºGAv) Pantera, using the H-60L Black Hawk.^[5]
• 1st Squadron of the 12th Aviation Group (1º/12ºGAv) Hórus, using the Elbit RQ-450 Hermes, Elbit RQ-900 Hermes, and Elbit RQ-1150 Heron.^[6]
• 4th Squadron of the 1st Communications and Control Group (4º/1ºGCC) Mangrulho, using radars and equipment for air defense.^[7]

Accidents and incidents

• 24 June 1985: Brazilian Air Force, a Lockheed C-130E Hercules registration FAB-2457 flew into the side of a hill while on approach to land at Santa Maria Air Force Base under fog. All 7 occupants died.^[8]

Access

The base is located 11 km east of downtown Santa Maria.

Gallery

This gallery displays aircraft that are or have been based at Santa Maria. The gallery is not comprehensive.

Present aircraft

• 
  AMX A-1M
• 
  Sikorsky H-60L Black Hawk
• 
  Elbit RQ-450 Hermes

Retired aircraft

• 
  Cessna L-19A Bird Dog
• 
  North American T-6G Texan
• 
  Neiva L-42 Regente
• 
  Bell H-1H Iroquois
• 
  Embraer AT-26 Xavante
• 
  Neiva T-25A Universal
• 
  Embraer U-7 Seneca

See also

• Aviation portal
• Brazil portal

• List of Brazilian military bases
• Santa Maria Airport