King Khalid Military City
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King Khalid Military City (KKMC) (Arabic: مدينة الملك خالد العسكرية; transliterated: Madynat al-Malik Khalid al-'Askariyah) is a special city in northeastern Saudi Arabia, designed and built by the Middle East Division, a unit of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in the 1970's and 1980's. It was built to provide lodging for several brigades of American and Saudi troops, with a design population of 65,000 people. The city is named after the former Saudi King Khalid bin Abdul Aziz.
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[edit] The City
[edit] Background
King Khalid Military City was one of several Saudi military facilities built between 1950 and 1990 by, or with assistance from, U.S. Army and Air Force engineers. Others include bases at Taif and Khamis Mushait. The city was one part of an expansive program of U.S-sponsored constructions that included the building of schools, airfields, ports, hospitals, and highways. KKMC was the largest of the projects and also the largest single military construction project in the Corp's history. [1] The budget was estimated to be approximately 8-billion US dollars, although other estimates range from $1.3-billion to $20-billion.
[edit] Construction
Planning for the city began in 1974 and, after a new Persian Gulf port was built in Ra's al-Mish'ab to handle all the material being brought in, construction began. Built in collaboration with local national engineers and project managers, various phases of the project were completed throughout the 1980's. The scope of the project was very large with 21 new wells being drilled to provide water, a new port for supplies, 3387 double story family housing units with utility tunnels, and 5 multi-dome mosques and associated facilities. [2] Also, the world's largest pre-cast concrete plant, built on-site, was used, built by the Samwhan Corportation. [3] The city was finally completed in 1987.
[edit] Gulf War
During the Gulf War, KKMC was used to house thousands of American and other coalition soldiers. Its airport was one of the most used during combat operations, along with bases in Dhahran and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
During the war, KKMC was protected from ballistic missiles by the U.S's Patriot missile system. On February 21, 1991 Iraq fired three Scud missiles at King Khalid Military City, which were reportedly destroyed by Patriot interceptors. [4]
[edit] Present use
At its peak, hundreds of US Army Corps engineers and personnel made KKMC their home, and a small American city evolved within the Saudi military city. Today, US presence at KKMC is minimal with only a small amount of US government personnel still working and living there.
