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In this 1999 Air Force file photo, aircraft maintenance crews watch as the right rear landing gear on a B-52H bomber is raised on the flightline at Diego Garcia.
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Diego Garcia Naval Support Facility
Location: 17-square-mile, V-shaped island in the Indian Ocean about halfway between Africa and Indonesia.
Units: 40th Air Expeditionary Wing (includes 9th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, 40th Bomb Squadron, 40th Expeditionary Logistics Group, 60th Air Expeditionary Group and 462nd Air Expeditionary Group), 613th Air Support Group, Maritime Prepositioning Squadron 2 and Afloat Prepositioning Ship Squadron 4, according to military research group Globalsecurity.org. Numerous British units are based here, and the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort has been dispatched.
Role: Many defense experts say this remote Navy and Air Force base, leased from the British government, is one of the three most important U.S. bases in the world. U.S. B-2 and B-52 bombers have flown missions to Afghanistan from Diego Garcia, and B-52s flew missions in the Persian Gulf War from the base.
Official Web site 
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EDITOR'S NOTE: CNN's policy is to not report information that puts operational security at risk.
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| SOURCES |
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| CNN, U.S. Defense Department, GlobalSecurity.org, Periscope |
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