The tiny, strategically located country of Dijbouti has military bases or military operations from five countries -- France, the U.S., Japan, South Korea and China -- China's first overseas military base.
The U.S. base, Camp Lemonnier at the Djibouti International airport, is the site of a large drone base hub used for assassin operations in Somalia and Yemen. It is also the site of the U.S. Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa and the forward headquarters of the U.S. Africa Command. It is the largest permanent U.S. military base in Africa with 4,000 personnel assigned.
China is the latest country that has built a $590 million military base and port in Dijoubti only a few miles from the United States facilities in Dijbouti. The Chinese say that the base/port is for UN peacekeeping and anti-piracy operations. Additionally, the Export-Import Bank of China has eight projects in the region including a $450 million airport in Bicidley, a city south of the capital of Dijbouti, a $490 million railway from Addis Abba, Ethiopia to Dijbouti and a $322 million water pipeline to Ethiopia. The Chinese also have created bases on atolls in the disputed areas of the South China Sea creating tensions with Vietnam and the Philippines.
In support of U.S. military operations in the Middle East, the U.S. military bases in Greece and Italy -- the Naval Support Group in Souda Bay, Crete, Greece and the U.S. Naval Air Station in Sigonella, the U.S. Naval Support Group and the U.S. Naval Computer and Telecommunications Center in Naples, Italy.
In Kuwait, the U.S. has facilities on four bases including: three camps at the Ali Al Salem Air Base including Camp Arifian and Camp Buchring. The US Navy and US Coast Guard uses on the Mohammed Al-Ahmad Kuwait Naval Base under the name Camp Patriot.
In Israel, the U.S. has 120 U.S. military personnel at the Dimona Radar Facility, an American-operated radar base in the Negev desert as a part of the Iron Dome project -- and located in the same area as the Israeli Nuclear Bomb facilities. 120 U.S. personnel operate two X-Band 1,300 feet towers -- the tallest towers in Israel for tracking missiles up to 1,500 miles away.
In Bahrain, the U.S. has the U.S. Naval Support Group/Base for the Fifth Fleet and is the primary base for naval and marine actions in Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen and the Persian Gulf.
On the island of Diego Garcia, an island in which the indigenous population was forcibly moved off the island by the British, the U.S. has a U.S. Naval Support Facility provides logistic support for the US Air Force and Navy to operational forces in Afghanistan, the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf including up to 20 pre-positioned ships that can supply a large armed force with tanks, armored personnel carriers, munitions, fuel, spare parts and even a mobile field hospital. This equipment was used during the Persian Gulf War when the squadron transported equipment to Saudi Arabia. The United States Air Force operates a High Frequency Global Communications System transceiver on Diego Garcia.
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