Soto Cano Air Base (commonly known as Palmerola Air Base) is a Honduran military base 5 mi to the south of Comayagua in Honduras. It houses between 500-600 US troops and is also used by the Honduran Air Force academy. The airbase became operational in 1981, changing the old location of the Honduras Air Force Academy in Toncontin, Tegucigalpa to Palmerola. The US government once used Palmerola as a base of operations to support its foreign policy objectives in the 1980s.