Marigny Le Grand Air Base

Military and political decision. The air base was closed following France's withdrawal from NATO's integrated military command structure in 1966. As a result, all United States forces were required to leave France, and the base was handed over to the French government in 1967. The French Air Force had no operational need for the facility, and it was subsequently abandoned as an active airfield.

The site is decommissioned and no longer used for aviation. The airfield's infrastructure, including the runway, taxiways, and dispersal pads, is largely intact but in a state of disrepair. The primary current use of the site is a large-scale photovoltaic solar farm, with solar panels covering many of the concrete dispersal pads and former taxiway areas. Some of the surrounding grassy areas are used for agriculture.

Marigny Le Grand Air Base was a Cold War-era military airfield. It was constructed between 1956 and 1957 as a NATO Dispersed Operating Base (DOB) for the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). Its primary purpose was to serve as a dispersal site for tactical fighter aircraft from main operating bases in the event of a war with the Warsaw Pact, making the aircraft less vulnerable to a first strike. Although it was maintained in a flight-ready condition and used for NATO exercises, it was never permanently garrisoned with flying units. The base featured a standard NATO layout with a 2400-meter (8000 ft) runway, taxiways, and circular dispersal pads known as 'marguerites' for parking combat aircraft.

None. The prospect of reopening the site as an airport is virtually zero. The extensive installation of a permanent solar energy farm on the critical infrastructure, the deteriorated condition of the runway, and the lack of any strategic or economic demand for an airport at this location make its reactivation as an airfield unfeasible.