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22 February 2013. A sends: Here are some more interesting airstrips to add to your article: 20.093162, 48.336016 (with some trucks refueling 20.100788, 48.350980) 20.561299, 49.997588 (with another temporary strip nearby 20.566484, 50.056512) Using these as leads Cryptome found another airstrip further north: 22.264924, 49.648370 10 February 2013 Saudi Arabia Border Guard Airports Airport guides list 33-36 major airports in Saudi Arabia. Beyond these are several dozen airports servicing oil field, agricultural and industrial complexes, smaller towns and for border guarding. This shows many of them with focus on the border guard airports in relation to a recent Wired report on a possible CIA drone base. This airport, under construction at Umm Al Melh, is larger than most border guard airports. Large drones, guided-weapons capable, require runways of about 7,000 feet, with secure hangars and support structures for arms storage, handling and preparation, armorers and maintenance personnel, as well as housing, feeding, health and welfare. Thus they are usually accommodated on or near military bases. However, CIA may also hide their drone operations in civilian or governmental facilities. Both military and CIA drones employ civilian contractors to supply personnel and operational support, and for construction and maintenance of air bases.  Comparison of several Saudi Arabia and Yemen border guard airports with the base identified by Wired as a possible CIA drone base shows that the Wired base is markedly more complex with dual runways -- the main one longer -- with hangars and extensive support structures lacking in the existing simpler bases. This suggests that the Saudis may have named the Wired base as a border guard base to camouflage Saudi participation in the drone program with drone launch capabilities inserted into border guard functions. However, with the US-assisted global spread of drone use, the Saudis may well have added drone capabilities to its border defense in response to the rise in Al Qaeda threats from Yemen. Combining both Saudi and CIA drone functions would be mutually beneficial as found in other US zones of contest such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, North Korea, China, Libya, Mali, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Nigeria and Niger, among others unknown, as well as for international oceanic, sub-oceanic and indeterminate surveillance and lethal targeting. Drone launch platforms are likely to increase at airports, air strips, highways, roads, fields, dry lake beds, prairies, flat mountain tops, ice fields, from whereever aircraft have traditionally gone aloft. As drones decrease and increase in size it should be expected that launch sites will proliferate in benign dual-use locations to cloak their operation. Except as noted the images below appear to be dated 2007, three years before the reported 2010 start of construction of the CIA drone base. Curiously, only two small aircraft are shown on the many photos of airports.

Saudi Arabia Border Airports

1 The base identified by Wired Umm Al Melh Airport, Saudi Arabia Primary Concrete Runway Length: 9,600 Feet Secondary Dirt Runway Length: 5,200 Feet Coordinates: 19.102438,50.120902 Bing (below) http://binged.it/YMCd4J (Image dated January 2012) (Below) Google http://goo.gl/maps/IriFu the air base image is not shown but location coordinates identified at Umm Al Melh Border Guards Airport A Google Earth user identified 3 bases along Saudi southern border on February 22, 2006, Umm Al Melh, Umm Gharib and Gahfah (Ardah): miktvk 2/22/06 Found 3 of these VERY remote bases around the southern Saudi border, this one just over the border in Yemen, 2 more to follow. All 3 are identical, this one seems to have support facilities way down the road. Secret US bases? Terrorist bases? Saudi bases? A mystery Two similar bases along the Saudi-UAE border (below) at Shubayta (Shabita) and Batha.

2 Umm Gharib Airport, Yemen Length: 5,500 Feet Coordinates: 18.39911,49.12597 Bing (below) http://binged.it/YMzlF6 Google (blurred) http://goo.gl/maps/pql3w

3 Oyba Al Badie Airport, Yemen, near the Saudi border Length: 9,700 Feet Coordinates: 18.72061,50.83837 Bing (below) http://binged.it/YMzVT7 Google http://goo.gl/maps/N3S1A Nearby Guard Camp Bing http://binged.it/YMAlc8

4 Thabhloten Airport, Saudi Arabia Length: 6,700 Feet Coordinates: 19.83209,54.02178 Bing (below) http://binged.it/YMF5i6 Google http://goo.gl/maps/D4I2i

5 Saudi Border Check Point (Opposite following Oman Check Point) Sout of Thabhloten Airport Coordinates: 19.691371,53.970003 Bing (below) http://binged.it/Z3k3j2 Google (blurred) http://goo.gl/maps/3QUFX

6 Oman Border Check Point (Opposite previous Saudi Check Poin) Coordinates: 19.656336,54.00201 Bing (below) http://binged.it/Z3kpGo Google http://goo.gl/maps/u0J6p

7  Gahfah (Ardah) Airport, Saudi Arabia Length: 6,700 Feet Coordinates: 21.228739,55.268375 Bing (below) http://binged.it/Z1NYIs Google (blurred) http://goo.gl/maps/Wg9a2

8 Unnamed Dirt Air Strip, Oman (Appears to be a border base opposite the Saudi base above) Length: 6,300 Feet Coordinates: 21.177868,55.465280 Bing (below) http://binged.it/Z3hcqn Google http://goo.gl/maps/B7WSX

9 Unnamed Construction Camp, Saudi Arabia Coordinates: 21.660448,52.985279 Bing: http://binged.it/Z3lWwg

10 Unidentified Dirt Air Strip, Saudi Arabia Length: 4,000 Feet Coordinates: 21.744693,53.279165 Bing http://binged.it/Z3mlyE Nearby Camp http://binged.it/YOUJti

11 Unidentified Dirt Air Strip, Saudi Arabia Coordinates: 21.949367,53.291220 Bing: http://binged.it/YOV6Uz

12 Shaybah (Shaiba) Airport, Saudi Arabia Primary runway length: 9,800 Feet Secondary dirt runway: 6,000 Feet Coordinates: 22.514973,53.956054 Bing (below) http://binged.it/YNnFlt Google http://goo.gl/maps/uR2m2

13  Shubayta (Shabita) Airport, Saudi Arabia Length: 6,800 Feet Coordinates: 22.711798,53.278188 Bing (below) http://binged.it/YMHEk9 Google http://goo.gl/maps/zSJPc

14  Batha Airport, Saudi Arabia Eastern Coast, Near UAE Border Length current: 5,500 Feet Apparently being lengthened to 7,200 Feet Coordinates: 24.217598,51.449492 Bing (below) http://binged.it/Z1QsGJ Google http://goo.gl/maps/MCgtS (Date May 16, 2010) An unidentified system atop a wedge-shaped platfrom