The latest satellite imagery from Digital Globe suggests that the US setup a drone base in Kuwait following the pullout from Iraq. It is now suspected, Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem was the probable home air base of the Predator involved in the October 2012 incident with Iran.
Location of the drone incident (red line) identified by the WP’s Max Fisher.
Late last year, CNN first reported Iran’s attempt to shoot down a Predator operating near its borders not far from the Shatt Al Arab. The Predator’s camera revealed that Iran had dispatched two Su-25 ground attack aircraft to take out the drone flying approximately 16 miles off the coast or four miles outside of Iran’s EEZ. (The Su-25 have been confirmed on imagery operating out of Shiraz Air Base)
Fortunately for the US, the ground attack aircraft were unsuccessful in their mission. While the Su-25 made several firing passes, the Predator escaped unscathed and returned to its home base. That home base has now been identified.
Publicly available imagery from Digital Globe confirms the presence of the MQ-1B Predator operating from Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait, not far from where the October 2012 incident occurred. (The last time a Predator showed up in news reporting at Al Salem was in 2002 when an RQ-1B crashed)
After a little sleuthing, information obtained from a US Air Force official confirmed that the US established a MQ-1B site in Kuwait in October 2011. According to the official who will remain anonymous, the US moved 21 Predator, two ground control stations, and 2 mobile towers from bases in Iraq in what is considered to be the largest transfer of MQ-1B assets to date. The confirmation of the MQ-1B and additional infrastructure, as shown above, suggests that base is located at Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem.
Of course this was not the only transfer of drones post Iraq. The movement of the Predators to Kuwait occurred just prior to US forces establishing an MQ-1B site at Incirlik in support of Operation Nomad Shadow, a classified intelligence sharing operation between the US and Turkey. (Nomad Shadow is thought to have been in existence since at least 2007, possibly earlier)
That said, it is currently unknown if all 21 Predator remain in Kuwait; however the appearance of additional clam-shell shelters — which arrived during the period of transfer — may be indicative of their basing at this location.
Bottom Line
Another drone base around Iran is bound to increase tensions after the downing of the RQ-170 and the capture of the US Navy’s Scan Eagle on Iranian territory.
IRGC-AF Su-25s are known to use Shahid Dastghaib International (SYZ / OISS), Shiraz.
Not an ideal air-to-air combat platform, nor are IRGC-AF pilots provided level of training required to be considered competent in such a role. Encounter should be considered improvised.
Part of a policy during later part of Ahmadinejad administration to aggressively deny IRI airspace to foreign UAVs.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your comment.
Ja, I should have put the whole title for the airbase, I’m a lazy blogger these days.
We’re certainly in agreement. It’s well known the IRGC-AF pilots were probably not up to the task and to dispatch two ground attack aircraft for the role could only be considered a choice of convenience.
As far as the Ahmadinejad policy, it goes without saying that foreign uavs should be aggressively kept out of national airspace, especially after the RQ-170 debacle. However even prior to that incident, Iran was aggressively trying to button up the borders with the deployment of more UAVs to border regions.
That said, the point of this piece was to highlight the fact that the US actually setup a drone base in Kuwait, which interestingly the mainstream media has yet to pick up on.