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 | |||||||||
SBSM Location in Brazil SBSM SBSM (Brazil) | |||||||||
Coordinates | 29°42′39″S 053°41′32″W / 29.71083°S 53.69222°W | ||||||||
Type | Air Force Base | ||||||||
Code | ALA4 | ||||||||
Site information | |||||||||
Owner | Brazilian Air Force | ||||||||
Controlled by | Brazilian Air Force | ||||||||
Open to the public | No | ||||||||
Website | www | ||||||||
Site history | |||||||||
Built | 1945 | ||||||||
In use | 1970-present | ||||||||
Garrison information | |||||||||
Current commander | Cel. Av. Wilson Paulo Corrêa Marques | ||||||||
Occupants |
| ||||||||
Airfield information | |||||||||
Identifiers | IATA: RIA, ICAO: SBSM, LID: RS0003 | ||||||||
Elevation | 88 metres (289 ft) AMSL | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Sources: DECEA[1] |
It shares some facilities with Santa Maria Airport.
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]
The following units are based at Santa Maria Air Force Base:
The base is located 11 km east of downtown Santa Maria.
This gallery displays aircraft that are or have been based at Santa Maria. The gallery is not comprehensive.