This made it, in the opinion of its Commanding Officer, ‘the largest camp of its sort for civilian labour in the Middle East’.

The runway may only be used by unmanned aircraft, and any other use requires approval from the Civil Aviation Authority, due to strong resistance from the local residents.

In 2008 and again in 2012, the Israeli government proposed closing down Sde Dov and Herzlia airports and relocating their general aviation and civilian flight training activities to an expanded Ein Shemer airfield.

[15] Since 2002 the base houses a complete Arrow 2 Theater Anti Ballistic Missile battery which includes around 150-200 Arrow 2 Block 4 missiles, several launchers, the Great Pine Radar (Super Green Pine) with a 1000 kilometer range and the Yellow Citron & Brown Nut elements of the system.

[18] In September 2020, a Heron started from here and landed at Ben Gurion International Airport during commercial flight operations, a first for a UAV.