Prince Sultan Air Base

The Prince Sultan Air Base is located 80km south of Riyadh. During the decade following Operation Desert Storm, it was host to upwards of 4,500 US military personnel and an undisclosed number of aircraft. During mid-2003 the roughly 4,500 US troops at Prince Sultan redeployed from Saudi Arabia to Qatar, leaving about 500 in Saudi Arabia, primarily at Eskan Village.

The Saudi base is very large, and it has extensive landing and plane storage facilities, with the American enclave located inside the much larger secure 80-square-mile base of the Royal Saudi Air Force. A good way of looking at Prince Sultan / Al Kharj is as a large parking lot. It has an immense 15,000-foot runway with a parking area. But as early as 1994 -- except for some construction under way -- there was nothing there. This plot of desert -- in the middle of nowhere -- was known as "Al Kharj" or "Al's Garage" during Operations Desert Shield and Storm.