Eskan Village

Eskan Village, officially named Eskan Village Air Base, is a U.S. military installation located 20 kilometers south-east of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The base is home to the 64th Air Expeditionary Group, Office of the Program Manager - Facilities Security Force (OPM-FSF), Office of the Program Manager Saudi Arabian National Guard Modernization Program (OPM-SANG), and the United States Military Training Mission in Saudi Arabia (USMTM).

History


Eskan Village was built in 1983 during the reign of Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to house various bedouin tribes. The tribes declined to occupy the housing complex, and Eskan Village remained unoccupied until August 1990. The Saudi Arabian government authorized the use of Eskan Village for deployed U.S. servicemembers during Operation Desert Shield.

In 1992, during the aftermath of the Gulf War, Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF SWA) was formed and headquartered at Eskan Village. Eskan Village was home to the region's Air Operations Center until it was relocated to Prince Sultan Air Base in September 2001. The transition was accelerated after the events of September 11, 2001.

After the bombing of the Khobar Towers on June 25, 1996, several U.S. military offices and housing facilities located in Riyadh and Dhahran were moved to Eskan Village and Prince Sultan Air Base in an effort to mitigate possible attacks.