Protective Aircraft Shelter (PAS)

 aircraft shelter, bunker, airport apron

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As with many military items, whether structures, tanks or aircraft, its most prolific use was during the Cold War. NATO and Warsaw Pact countries built hundreds of HAS's across Europe. In this context Hardened Aircraft Shelters were built to protect aircraft from conventional attacks as well as nuclear, chemical and biological strikes. NATO shelters, built to standard designs across the continent, were designed to withstand a direct hit by a 500lb (226 kg) bomb, or a near miss by a larger one (i.e., 1,000 lb+). In theory HAS's were also built to protect aircraft in a nuclear strike; however, the effect of such an attack on airfield taxiways, runways, support facilities and personnel would have made any retaliatory mission extremely difficult and subsequent return and rearming almost impossible.