Main Operating Base

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A Main Operating Base ( MOB ) is in the parlance of the United States the largest level of a military base outside the motherland . These are bases within friendly host countries in which combat troops are permanently stationed, fixed command and communication facilities, efficient bunker and defense systems, efficient access to the airspace or the sea as well as living and care facilities for relatives of soldiers are available.

The MOBs go back to a concept that US President George W. Bush presented in August 2004 for the stationing of the armed forces of the United States . It provides for US troops to be withdrawn by 2014, particularly from Western Europe, and to be relocated to the USA and, to a lesser extent, to other countries. Central elements of this new stationing concept are Forward Operating Sites (FOS) and Cooperative Security Locations (CSL) subordinate to the MOBs .

MOBs in Europe are the military airfields Ramstein , Wiesbaden and Spangdahlem as well as the three combined army bases Grafenwoehr , Hohenfels and Vilseck in Germany , the Aviano Air Base in Italy , the military port Rota in Spain , the base of the 173rd US Airborne Brigade in Vicenza in Italy, the headquarters of the US Navy in Naples . In Asia, the Kadena Air Base on Okinawa , the Yokosuka Military Port and Camp Humphreys in South Korea serve as MOBs. Outside of Western Europe and East Asia, the US is expressly not planning any establishment of MOBs.

The distinction between Main Operating Base and Forward Operating Base (FOB) is also common in the parlance of NATO and other armed forces.

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