Dhahran Airfield - History

History

In 1945, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia agreed signed the Dhahran Air Field Agreement. This agreement permitted the U.S. to build a small air field near the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) town. The use of the term “air field”, as opposed to “air base” was a direct result of U.S. sensitivity of Saudi Arabia’s concerns regarding imperialism. Further, full ownership of the airfield was scheduled to revert to Saudi Arabia at the conclusion of the war, after an agreed-upon three-year period during which the U.S. would have the rights to operate the field.

Despite the end of World War II in the European theater, in 1945, President Harry S. Truman signed the Agreement, which owing to the lack of any military justification, and again a reflection of Saudi Arabia’s concerns regarding imperialism and the symbolism of foreign bases on their soil, was promptly rejected by the King. The War Department, likewise, dropped their support of the project. However, the U.S. State Department, recognizing the economic benefits of this location, and the diplomatic benefits afforded by the agreement, continued to pursue development of the Dhahran Air Field. After Congress approved substantial economic development assistance, the U.S. State Department and the Saudi Government agreed, in August 1945, to develop the air field. Ironically, the War Department was forced to foot the cost of the construction.

In 1948, when the originally agreed-upon three-year post-war period of U.S. operations came to a close, the agreement was renegotiated. While the airfield had not been completed until 1946, too late to be of any benefit for World War II logistics (its original justification) it did provide benefits in the late 1940s, specifically in the context of the increasing tension between the U.S. and Soviet Union. In 1949 Dhahran airfield was the only airfield in the area which could support the United States Air Force’s B-29s. Thus, the airfield took on increasing importance in the U.S.’s eyes as one location in the U.S. strategy of the containment of communism. For Saudi Arabia, the base provided an element of security from the U.S. forces posted there, among Saudi Arabia’s growing concerns regarding their neighbors, particularly Yemen, and the Hashemites of Iraq and Transjordan. The 1948 agreement reverted ownership of the air base to Saudi Arabia, and on-going year-to-year leases, for which the U.S. would pay rent. As part of the U.S. concession for this on-going access to the air base, the U.S. agreed to send a military team to Saudi Arabia to consult on the Saudi defenses.