On 6 May units from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 2nd Division and 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines secured the Chu Lai area.

The SATS consisted of a 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) runway with an aluminum surface of interlocking lightweight metal alloy planking, a catapult and a carrier deck-type arresting gear.

It was involved in Operation Starlite on 18 August 1965, when the Marines made a pre-emptive strike on gathering National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF) forces who were preparing to attack the base.

[4] With the opening of the new runway, Marine Aircraft Group 13 with three McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II squadrons arrived at Chu Lai[5] and remained until September 1970.

[6] On the morning of 31 January 1968 as part of the Tet Offensive, the NLF attacked the base with rockets and mortars triggering an explosion in the bomb dump.