CFB Cold Lake (Cold Lake)

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Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake (IATA: YOD, ICAO: CYOD), commonly referred to as CFB Cold Lake, is a Canadian Forces Base located adjacent to the city of Cold Lake, Alberta. It is operated as an air force base by Canadian Forces Air Command (the largest in Canada) and is one of two bases in the country using the CF-18 Hornet fighter/interceptor. Its primary lodger unit is 4 Wing.

Personnel arrived at Cold Lake on March 31, 1954 with operations at RCAF Station Cold Lake beginning that day. The following year, the federal government signed an agreement with the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta for use of a tract of land measuring 180 km by 65 km covering an area of 11,700 square kilometres. This became known as the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) and is the raison d'être for the location of the base.

CLAWR is the northern equivalent to the United States Air Force's Nellis Air Force Range and provides a different training environment with heavy boreal forest and numerous lakes more closely resembling European terrain. It hosts over 640 actual targets and 100 realistic target complexes, including 7 simulated aerodromes with runways, tarmac, aircraft, dispersal areas and buildings, as well as mechanized military equipment such as tanks, simulated radar and missile launching sites, mock industrial sites, and command and control centres.