Qatari facility to be built in Idaho, Defense Secretary Hegseth says

Alex Brizee, The Idaho Statesman on Oct 10, 2025

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BOISE, Idaho — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday that a facility for a branch of Qatar’s armed forces will be built at the Mountain Home Air Force Base south of Boise.

“Today, we’re signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatar Emiri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho,” he told reporters at the Pentagon. “The location will host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots to enhance our combined training, increase lethality, interoperability.”

Hegseth added that it’s “just another example of our partnership,” while seated next to the Qatari Minister of Defense Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. The announcement came during a news conference addressing the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, where he thanked Qatar for the “substantial role” they played.

“I want to thank you for that historic peace,” Hegseth told Al Thani.

Pilots from the Qatar Emiri Air Force, and their F-15s, will join a base that already houses members of the Republic of Singapore Air Force, who have trained and lived in the quiet town outside of Boise since 2009.

The possibility of Friday’s move was announced years ago, and in 2022 the Air Force honed in on Mountain Home as the location to house 300 personnel, including a 170 Qatari trainees and 130 U.S. Air Force active duty personnel and contractors, the Idaho Statesman reported.

It’s unclear whether the specifics from that contract remain the same. The Statesman reached out to the Mountain Home Air Force Base, the Governor’s Office and the White House for more information. In an automated response, the White House said there could be delays in responding to inquires because of the government shutdown, which it blamed on Democrats.

The U.S. executed the facility’s construction through a foreign military sale, and the facility is expected to create an “enduring location” for Qatari F-15 aircraft at the military base, a Pentagon official told the Statesman in a statement.

“It will enable combined training opportunities between Qatar and the United States, fostering stronger defense partnerships and enhancing joint operational capabilities,” the statement read. “This effort will increase the lethality of our warfighters and improve interoperability among allied and partner nations.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, praised the news on social media.

“This development is beneficial for training, enhances our partnership with America’s allies, and strengthens national security,” Simpson wrote on X.

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, in a statement said he’d continue to work with the Air Force and base leadership in Mountain Home to ensure they have the necessary support to “fulfill goals of global military readiness” and protect the country’s long-term national security interests.

Terri Pickens, a Democratic candidate in Idaho’s 2026 gubernatorial election, urged Gov. Brad Little in a statement to tell President Donald Trump to pause the deal. She called the planned facility a “direct threat to Idaho’s sovereignty, our security and the rights of Idahoans.”

“Letting outsiders build our military infrastructure poses serious security and intelligence risks,” she said.

Pickens also referenced the $400 million plane, a luxury Boeing 747 jet, that Qatar gifted Trump earlier this year to be used as Air Force One.

The unprecedented gift has received a steady stream of pushback from the Democratic Party — some of whom have called accepting the gift “wildly illegal.” Senate Republicans voted down a Democratic-led effort to block funding for Trump to convert the jetliner into Air Force One.

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