Aeon Field
Aeon Field | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | abandoned | ||||||||||
| Owner | Island Government of Kiritimati | ||||||||||
| Operator | none | ||||||||||
| Serves | none | ||||||||||
| Location | Kiritimati | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 016 ft / 5 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 001°45′48″N 157°11′43″W / 1.76333°N 157.19528°W | ||||||||||
 Interactive map of Aeon Field | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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Aeon Field is an abandoned airport located at Aeon Point on the southeastern peninsula of the Republic of Kiribati island of Kirimati. It was constructed in the late 1950s[1] by the British to support their nuclear tests held at the island.[2]
In spite of having been ground zero for nuclear testing with H-Bombs suspended from balloons,[3][4] a Japanese Aerospace organisation intended to use this airfield to launch and land an experimental plane from 2002 onwards as part of the space vehicle test program HOPE-X.[5] Although development of the airfield did start, the program was terminated before any test flights took place.
Facilities
[edit]The airfield was built to support medium-sized aircraft. There is a single runway oriented east–west and a small apron to the northwest.
References
[edit]- ^ "AEON airfield-Kiritimati". Retrieved 26 October 2025.
- ^ "Fishing for new friends". Asia & the Pacific Policy Society. 27 August 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
- ^ "Aeon Airfield airfield, Line Islands, Kiribati". ki.geoview.info.
- ^ "GB H-Bombs balloon-burst Tests Ground Zero military installation, Line Islands, Kiribati". ki.geoview.info.
- ^ "Agreement Concluded on Landing Facilities for H-II Orbiting Plane-Experimental (HOPE-X)". 23 February 2000. Retrieved 26 October 2025.