It is located west of the city of Yavne on the Mediterranean coast, 12 km south of the Gush Dan metropolitan area with Tel Aviv, named after the Kibbutz Palmachim a few hundred meters to the north.

In 1962, the then German Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauß sold 24 modern S-58 to Israel,[2] which were then supplemented and finally replaced by Bell 205 (UH-1D/H) helicopters from the end of the 1960s, as some S-58 had been lost in the Six-Day War in 1967.

From this point onwards, UAVs were no longer used solely for reconnaissance flights by the IAF, but also for dropping (guided) bombs and firing missiles, something which was not officially confirmed for a long time.

[7][8] For target detection and tracking, it is used at the Ein Shemer Airfield - together with the Arrow 2 missiles there and others at the Sdot Micha Airbase - the local Super Green Pine Radar with a range of 1000 kilometers.

This command is a department of the IAF or the Israeli Air and Space Force and supplements the aircraft squadrons at the bases (see photo in the gallery).

In July 2007, it was agreed that once Sde Dov Airport in Tel Aviv was closed, its military terminal would be transferred to Palmachim.

Since 7 October 2023, the drones from Palmachim and other Israeli military bases (Tel Nof, Hatzor, Ramat David) are operational in the air over the Gaza Strip around the clock, on the one hand to collect information and to carry out attacks with guided weapons.

In addition, the UAVs also stationed on Palmachim had become increasingly more powerful, are much cheaper to purchase and maintain and no longer endanger the lives of pilots.