The Israeli air force has built full-scale replicas of Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian airbases in the Negev desert for training missions.
The replicas have been built using aerial photographs of the potential targets and are updated regularly to reflect changes. The facility's existence has only recently been confirmed.
Details such as runways, taxiways, aircraft shelters and other installations are modelled, while an Israeli air force unit simulates air defence systems.
Israeli air force sources say the mock-ups allow the development of tactics under different conditions using a variety of weapons.
Source: Flight International
