Chièvres Air Base Chièvres Air Base Chièvres Air Base is a United States Air Force operated airfield located east southeast of the Walloon town of Chièvres in the province of Hainaut, Belgium and about from Headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), in Casteau. It is mainly used to provide logistic support to NATO and SHAPE. The station and support facilities are operated by the United States Army Garrison Benelux for NATO. The United States Air Force 424th Air Base Squadron (ABS) is the operational unit at Chièvres Air Base. It is supported by the 86th Operations Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
Western Union (alliance) transferred to the newly established North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), providing the nucleus of NATO's command structure at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). As a consequence of the failure of the European Defence Community in 1954, the London and Paris Conferences led to the Modified Treaty of Brussels (MTB) through which the Western Union was transformed into the Western European Union (WEU) and was joined by Italy and West Germany. As the WEU's functions were transferred to the European Union's (EU) European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) at the turn of the 21st century, the Western Union is