Thumrait Air Base

Location: Southern Oman.

Personnel: About 3,000 U.S. military, mostly Air Force, as of December.

Units: The base is home to the Air Force's 305th Air Expeditionary Wing, which provides combat rescue, airlift, medical evacuation, air surveillance and control, theater ballistic missile defense, and force protection and combat support for coalition air, ground and other operations. It also is home to radar surveillance facilities that monitor air traffic in the southern Iraq no-fly zone. The 28th Bomb Wing and several British units also are based here, according to military research group Globalsecurity.org.

Aircraft: Force includes B-1 bombers, C-135 and British aircraft, including B-1 Lancer bombers.

Role: In recent years, most resources have been devoted to patrolling the no-fly zone.