On Oct. 10, 2025, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the United States Air Force would allow the government of Qatar to build a facility at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho.
The news set off a firestorm on social media. Supporters as well as critics of President Donald Trump blasted the supposed decision. For instance, Laura Loomer, a conservative social media influencer known for her close ties to Trump, wrote on X that the "Qatari influence on the Trump administration is totally out of control."
Later that day, Hegseth backtracked. "The U.S. military has a long-standing partnership w/ Qatar, including today's announced cooperation w/ F-15QA aircraft," he said in a post on X. "However, to be clear, Qatar will not have their own base in the United States—nor anything like a base."
In the wake of the announcement, Snopes readers wrote in asking for more information. We found the claim was a mixture of true and false information. Here's what to know:
Foreign troops in America
While America has never hosted a foreign military base on its territory, it has hosted troops from other nations. According to an article from The Dispatch, American allies, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Singapore, all maintain small presences at American military bases, often for training purposes.
For instance, Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas is home to the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program. Several European nations, including Germany, Italy, Norway and the Netherlands, send student pilots and instructors to Texas to be trained how to fly.
Mountain Home Air Force Base, the planned location of the Qatari post, is already home to a foreign detachment. According to the base's website, it has hosted pilots and F-15SG fighter jets from the city-state of Singapore since 2009. The U.S. Air Force's 366th Fighter Wing, which is stationed at the base, flies a version of the same aircraft.
Plans have been in the works for a while
Qatar first purchased F-15QA aircraft in 2017, according to The Associated Press. The next step of the process was therefore training pilots to fly them. Mountain Home Air Force Base might have been a natural fit because it already hosted Singaporean pilots.
In April 2022, the base published a news release announcing it had completed the environmental impact study for "the beddown of a US-led Qatar Emiri Air Force F-15QA squadron." "Beddown" is the term the military uses to refer to an aircraft's base of operations.
According to the 2022 news release, the proposal would involve the following:
The beddown of 12 F-15QA aircraft and associated equipment, use of the Mountain Home Air Force Base airfield, special use airspace and military training routes for training, use of defensive countermeasures and ordnance, approximately 300 additional QEAF and United States Air Force personnel, and the construction and modification of facilities and infrastructure needed to support the beddown.
The Associated Press reported that Qatar will pay for the construction of the facilities required to house the fighter jets, but local contractors are expected to build the facility. Security at the base will still be handled by the U.S. Air Force.