Al Udeid Air Base (Arabic:قاعدة العديد الجوية) is a military base west of Doha, Qatar, also known as Abu Nakhlah Airport (Arabic:مطار أبو نخلة). It houses foreign coalition personnel and assets. It is host to a forward headquarters of United States Central Command, headquarters of United States Air Forces Central, No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group RAF, and the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of the USAF. In 1999, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad, reportedly told US officials that he would like to see as many as 10,000 US servicemen permanently stationed at Al Udeid. Following joint military operations during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Qatar and the United States concluded a Defense Cooperation Agreement that has been subsequently expanded. In April, 2003, the U.S. Combat Air Operations Center for the Middle East moved from Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia to Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base, southwest of Doha, the Qatari capital.
Al Udeid and other facilities in Qatar serve as logistics, command, and basing hubs for the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of operations, including Iraq and Afghanistan. In spite of serving as the host to a large U.S. military presence, and supporting U.S. regional initiatives, Qatar has remained mostly secure from terrorist attacks. Terrorist statements indicate that energy infrastructure and U.S. military facilities in Qatar remain potential targets. U.S. officials have described Qatar’s counter-terrorism cooperation since the September 11 attacks as significant.
Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) is a multinational headquarters for tactical and operational control of NATO Air Forces below the Joint Force Command level.
Within the European NATO command structure it is subordinated to the Component Command – Air, and is superior to Control and Reporting Centres. NATO may operate in Europe static and deployable CAOCs.
Predecessor organizations of the CAOC were Air Tactical Operations Centre (ATOC) and Air Defence Operations Centre (ADOC). Until 1980 the two HQs for air attack and air defence operated autonomously. Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, provides command and control of air power throughout Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and other nations in the U.S. Air Forces Central Command region. The CAOC comprises joint and Coalition teams that execute day-to-day combined air and space operations and provide rapid reaction, positive control, coordination, and deconfliction of weapon systems.
Function: Functioning as the nerve center of the air campaign, the CAOC plans, monitors and directs sortie execution, close air support and precision air strike; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; airlift; air refueling; aeromedical evacuation; air drop, and countless other mission-critical operations.
Organization:
To facilitate superior airpower operations, the CAOC relies upon the expertise of joint and Coalition teams within five divisions: Strategy Division (SRD); Combat Plans Division (CPD); Combat Operations Division (COD); Air Mobility Divions (AMD); and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Division (ISRD).
Facility:
A Total Force team of active duty, Air National Guard and Reserve personnel began construction on the facility in July 2002. The CAOC, both team members and equipment, became fully operational Feb. 18, 2003.
Built at a cost of $60 million, the project involved installation of more than 67 miles of high-capacity and fiber optic cable. This capability created the most advanced operations center in history. Keeping these systems operating requires hundreds of people, working in satellite communications, imagery analysis, network design, computer programming, radio systems, systems administration and other fields. .
Royal Air Force operations
After the withdrawal of British Tornados and VC10s in Summer 2009 to other locations, Royal Air Force activities at Al Udeid were reduced.
Since 2014 it has been used as HQ for British involvement in airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq (Operation Shader).
The Royal Air Force has also stationed an RC-135 Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft at the base to operate over Iraq and Syria, although this aircraft has been pictured operating from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
US Operations
With its small territory and narrow population base, Qatar relies to a large degree on external cooperation and support for its security. With a personnel strength of 11,800, Qatar’s armed forces are the second-smallest in the Middle East. France has provided approximately 80% of Qatar’s arms inventory. Since the 1991 Gulf War, Qatar has pursued a limited program of force modernization. Qatar has spent $12 billion to buy MIM-104 Patriot Missiles.
Qatar invested over $US1 billion to construct the Al Udeid Air Base southwest of Doha during the 1990s; it did not have a truly substantial air force of its own at the time. The United States Army Corps of Engineers also awarded over $100 million in Military Construction Air Force (MCAF) contracts for the construction of U.S. storage, housing, service, command, and communication facilities. Qatar’s financing and construction of some of the state-of-the-art air force base at Al Udeid and its granting of permission for the construction of U.S.-funded facilities helped deepen cooperation with U.S. military forces.
The Al Udeid Air Base now serves as a logistics, command, and basing hub for U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nearby Camp As Sayliyah houses significant U.S. military equipment pre-positioning and command and control facilities for the CENTCOM's area of operations. Both Qatar and the United States have invested in the construction and expansion of these facilities since the mid-1990s, and they form the main hub of the CENTCOM air and ground logistical network in the area of responsibility. As a result of ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. and partner nation facilities in Qatar and elsewhere have received higher use in recent years and may require further investment to meet current and potential future needs.
Combined Air and Space Operations Center (CAOC) provides command and control of air power throughout Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and 17 other nations.
In early June 2017, the Pentagon said that the diplomatic rupture and tensions between Qatar and some of its Arab neighbors would not affect U.S. operations at the Air Base.
The air base played an important role during the 2018 missile strikes against Syria, in which two USAF B-1B Lancer bombers from the 34th Bomb Squadron deployed from the base.
On 5-6 June 2017, a crisis emerged in the Middle East as Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with its neighbour Qatar. Soon after, the governments of Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, the Maldives, Mauritania, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen followed suit in cutting ties with Qatar. The governments of Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Jordan, Niger, and Senegal have also downgraded the status of their diplomatic relations with the estranged Emirate. In the midst of these announcements, United States President Donald Trump claimed credit for isolating Qatar, insinuating that the country has been supporting militant Islamist organizations, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Despite these comments by President Trump, Qatar signed a $12 billion US deal a little over a week later, on 14 June 2017, to purchase F-15QA fighter jets from the US (see Paul Iddon, “The Gulf crisis and future of Qatar’s military“, offiziere.ch, 19.06.2017).
Al-Udeid is an important link in the logistical chain for ongoing American military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, serving as a forward headquarters for US Central Command (CENTCOM), US Air Forces Central Command, and the 379th Expeditionary Air Wing of the US Air Force (USAF). It is also worth noting that Al-Udeid continues to host a British presence and was an important base for Royal Australian Air Force operations in Afghanistan and Iraq from 2003 to 2008. The sale of F-15QA fighter jets, as well as the start of a joint US-Qatar naval exercise on June 15, seems to suggest that defence relations between the two countries will endure, but further declarations of support for Saudi Arabia’s actions against Qatar could lead to the expulsion of some, or all, of the approximately 11,000 American military personnel at Al-Udeid Air Base. Such a development would severely undermine the effectiveness of coalition operations against ISIS at a crucial time, as ISIS’ traditional “capital” of Raqqa, Syria is under siege..
