In the country’s first underwater military museum, tanks, a helicopter, and an armored vehicle are just some items that divers can swim around and see resting on the seabed near the Jordanian city of Aqaba.
The vehicles, imitating a battle formation, have been stationed at a coral reef in the Red Sea.
Inaugurated in 2019, the museum was created with the hope that the underwater structures will enhance the environment for marine life, encouraging more diving enthusiasts. The museum also hopes to relieve the pressure on natural reefs by drawing visitors away from those sites.
The war machines were sunk in a depth range of 15 to 28 meters, stationed along the coral reefs imitating a tactical battle formation, creating an exciting underwater adventure, intriguing divers and snorkelers to discover more and more of the dive site and have a unique experience.
The dive site is located just off the coast of Aqaba, South Beach in the Red Sea in an area popular with divers. The museum objects are decommissioned vehicles donated by the Royal Jordanian Army. The museum is currently made up of 21 military relics and expected to grow as more equipment becomes available.
Some have landed at 49-66 feet below the surface, while other objects can be found deeper, at 66-98 feet. This allows the city’s visitors to enjoy their sight by glass bottom boat, snorkeling and diving.
The military hardware includes a U.K.-built Chieftain main battle tank (known as Khalid Shir in Jordan) with 120-millimetre tank gun, and an unarmed FV104 Samaritan tracked military ambulance. U.S.-made M42 Duster anti-aircraft gun with twin 40-millimetre Bofors guns, FV701 Ferret armored car, and a South African Ratel (Honey Badger) 6×6 wheeled infantry fighting vehicle are also a great addition to the “battlefield”. The most important piece of the collection: a Royal Jordanian Air Force AH-1F Cobra attack helicopter was built by Bell Helicopter in the U.S.
The Aqaba seabed is also home to a C-130 Hercules jet sunk in 2018, as well as a tank and shipwreck which were submerged in the late 90s. These have become popular diving sites with rich coral reefs and an active marine life.
The site has an easy shore entry with the gently sloping sandy area. After crossing this narrow sandy stripe and heading from the only live Porites coral pinnacle present at 5 meters, you will reach a dense sea-grass bed, where a mixture of Halophila stipulacea and Halodule uninervis species can be found.
The site is home to a large population of Garden Eels, living in a vast expanse of seagrass slope stretching from just 6 to16 meters depth. The flat and sandy area gradually slopes to 24 meters where the bare reef starts, together with the military vehicles carefully placed here to avoid any damage to the scattered small coral patches across this particular zone. A well-developed coral garden starts further down, at about 30 meters which makes an unforgettable dive for more advanced divers.
All hazardous materials have been removed from the vehicles, which will slowly turn into reefs to benefit the environment. The new attraction already brings more species to the site and scuba divers seeking new thrills to Aqaba. It is hoped the museum will also help alleviate the burden of increased tourism on local, healthy coral reefs.