The US has finalised an agreement that will allow Qatar to build an air force facility in Idaho, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced.
He said the facility – where pilots from the Gulf state would be trained to fly F-15 fighter jets – would be established at the Mountain Home Airbase in the north-western US state.
“It’s just another example of our partnership,” Hegseth said during a meeting with his Qatari counterpart, Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, at the Pentagon on Friday.
Hegseth also praised Qatar for playing a “substantial role” in efforts led by President Donald Trump to secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage return deal.
Qatar – along with Egypt and Turkey – has been an active mediator during months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
On Friday, Hegseth said he was “proud that today we’re signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatari Emiri Air Force Facility at the Mountain Home Airbase in Idaho”.
“The location will host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots to enhance our combined training, increase lethality, interoperability, it’s just another example of our partnership.
“You can count on us,” Hegseth told al-Thani.
The Pentagon chief did not say how many Qatari F-15s would be based at the Idaho facility, and when it would become operational.
The order amounts to an extraordinary security pact between America and a key Arab ally, almost mirroring aspects of a Nato alliance.
The move came after Israeli air strikes targeted Hamas leaders in Qatar’s capital Doha on 9 September, leaving several lower-level members of the Palestinian group dead, along with a Qatari security official.
Qatar hosts Washington’s biggest military base in the Middle East – the al-Udeid.
The base – home to the US military’s headquarters for all air operations in the region – was attacked earlier this by Iran in retaliation for American strikes against its nuclear sites.