Brunei’s military flying began with medical work in the interior in the mid-1960s, with helicopters and pilots that were hired or lent by Britain. According to Wikipedia’s article on the base, the Air Wing’s pair of Bell 205s operated in 1970 from Berakas Garrison, before Rimba existed. The civil airport of the time was also at Berakas, on a runway the Japanese had laid during the Second World War; it was there that three RAF Beverleys landed Gurkhas at the outbreak of the 1962 revolt.

The present airport became operational in 1974, with what Wikipedia calls one of the longest runways in the Far East; the Brunei AIP gives 3,658 metres. The air base grew up on the other side of that runway. Its opening date is not given on the official pages checked, and is left blank here. Wikipedia’s chronology runs through the base: Bell 212s from 1974, Bo 105s from 1981, S-70A Black Hawks and the IPTN-built CN-235 in 1997, four PC-7 Mk IIs in 1998 and Mistral missiles from January 1999.

The base’s flying since 2013 has been a story of replacement. The first four of 12 Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawks arrived on 27 November 2013, as the Bell 212 fleet was run down after the 2012 crash. By September 2023 the maintenance squadron, No. 51, reported almost ten years and over 13,000 hours on the type without a major accident, and Brunei hosted the International Black Hawk Operators Conference that year.

The Bo 105s, nicknamed Stinger, were retired in a ceremony at the Air Movement Centre in February 2022, after 41 years, 36 pilots and 32,000 flying hours. Their successor, the Airbus H145M, was ordered in May 2024; no delivery had been reported by the air force by the end of September 2026.

Fixed-wing transport moved faster. The C295MW entered service on 14 February 2024, when, according to the air force, the Sultan himself flew one of the aircraft at its introduction. The last two, TUDB 504 and 505, landed at Rimba on 20 April 2026 after a seven-day ferry from Seville, and by then the fleet had flown 518 flights, including relief to the Philippines and Myanmar.

Rimba’s Air Movement Centre, completed in 2013 at a cost of about B$3.9 million according to Wikipedia, is where foreign military aircraft are received. On 1 March 2024 two US Air Force F-35s landed there for a single night; the air force described it as the first time American fifth-generation fighters had landed in Brunei. On 6 August 2024 four F-22 Raptors and three C-130Js arrived during Iron Blade, a Pacific Air Forces redeployment from Exercise Pitch Black in Australia, and stayed three days.

On 30 August 2025 two Royal Australian Air Force F-35As and a KC-30A tanker made the Australian type’s first visit to Brunei. None of these aircraft are Brunei’s: the only aircraft based at Rimba are the air force’s own helicopters, transports, trainers and drones.

Closer neighbours train here too. On 10 September 2025 two S-70is of 11 Squadron and two H225M helicopters of the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s Brunei Helicopter Detachment flew arrowhead and diamond four-ship formations at Rimba, the first mixed formation of the two air forces, with 34 Singaporean personnel taking part. The air force said the aim was aircrew coordination and interoperability for disaster relief.

Since 2024 the base has been growing. A building for the unmanned aircraft squadron was begun on 20 August 2024, and the first drone operator wings were presented the following month. On 30 September 2025 the commander laid the foundation of a new air defence complex: a No. 2 Wing headquarters of 1,990 square metres, Hangar 238 for the Mistral squadron and a 1,500-square-metre hangar for a medium-range air defence system. Groundwork had started on 7 May 2025 and completion was due in November 2026. The air force has not named the medium-range system, and none is listed here.