The heat is hellish in the Zekreet desert. The appointment for the morning of May 30th is southwest of Doha, the golden capital, in the true sense of the word, of what, only officially, is the state of Qatar. In reality what governs this enclave of the Persian Gulf is a real hereditary monarchy, that of the Al Thani, those of Mater Olbia, of Qatar Airways and of the “bankrupt” Air Italy, those of the hotels of the Costa Smeralda . In the good salons, the sumptuous ones of the emirs, in that peninsula all oil and gas, there is a line to sit down. From Italy, for years, the run-up for an invitation to court is such that very often there is the risk that ministers, ambassadors, managing directors and high officials of the Bel Paese get stuck in the entrance door of the Palazzo del Principe in the historic heart of Doha. Here the immensity of the yellow-red sand does not have the sinuosity of the hinterland, rather it is an infinite plain, without a horizon, heated beyond belief by the rays of the same sun that rises at Decimomannu. The Qatar Air Force pilots gave an appointment for 9 am on the desert runways of the Al Udeid military air base.
Secret mission
The mission is secret. Not around the corner. To cross on the wings of two imposing giants of the skies there are deserts and seas, the beauty of 4,226 km to fly over at an altitude that goes well over ten thousand meters. The air force base in southwestern Doha is not simply an airport dedicated to the Qatar Air Force . In this "piece of war" in the midst of camels and deserts there is much more. Starting from the headquarters of the United States Advanced Central Command with the United States Air Force, there are numerous states that make a war base in that compound lying on the desert.
Yenkee in the desert
Since the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad, expressed a desire to see no less than 10,000 US troops permanently stationed in Al Udeid there, the Americans have not let themselves be begged. On the runway are two giants of the air, the McDonnell Douglas / Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, the largest military transport aircraft developed for the United States Air Force. Only they and no one else are aware of the destination. There is no civilian radar capable of intercepting them and decoding their mission. The take-off of the first, code LHOB241, is for 10.02 on May 30, 2022. Twenty-one minutes later it is the turn of the second military cargo, flight code LHOB250. The first will fly over Cagliari six hours after take-off. The second wheel. : the first at 15.15, the second at 15.34. One thing is certain, it is impossible to think of a pleasure trip. If only for the load capacity of the two giants: 77,519 kg for each. On board, however, there can also be 102 paratroopers or 134 troopers with palletized and side seats, or an M1 tank, two Bradley armored vehicles or three Stryker vehicles.
