Oct. 10 (UPI) — The Qatari Emiri Air Force will base several F-15 fighters and their pilots at a base in Idaho, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Friday.
The Qatari fighter jets and pilots will be hosted at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in southwestern Idaho, which Hegseth said will enable training exercises with the U.S. military to make joint operations more effective, according to The Hill.
Hegseth announced the Qatari base agreement while meeting with Qatari Defense Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the Pentagon on Friday.
“The location will host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots to enhance our combined training, increase lethality [and] interoperability,” Hegseth said, as reported by CBS News.
Hegseth and Al Thani signed a letter of acceptance to build the Qatari air force facility at the Idaho base, which also is home to a Singapore Air Force unit.
Qatar will build its base at the Idaho facility, but the dates of the planned construction and when the base would be operational were not announced.
Qatar has been instrumental in helping to secure a cease-fire in Gaza and potentially bring a lasting peace in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East, Hegseth added.
Al Thani called the Gaza peace effort a “historic achievement” that shows “what can be accomplished when our nations work together,” Fox News reported.
Hegseth and Al Thani referred to the peace agreement between Israel and Hamas that President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday.
The president credited Qatar, Turkey and Egypt with mediating the negotiations that resulted in what Trump said will ensure peace throughout the Middle East.
While Qatar will have an air force training base in Idaho, the United States likewise has a military base at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which is the largest U.S. base in the Middle East, according to Grey Dynamics.
The U.S. has used the Qatar base since 2000, hosted coalition forces and served as the U.S. military’s headquarters for its operations in Iraq.
A 2002 agreement formally made the U.S. military the manager of the Al Udeid base in Qatar.