After months of planning, the U.S. Air Force joined with its coalition partners from the United Kingdom and Qatar to take part in an exercise on the runway at Al Udeid Air Base. The exercise, originally proposed by the UK in order to satisfy internal safety requirements, was designed to test the effectiveness of an emergency response to an aircraft accident on the runway. By the time the exercise took place on Oct. 3, it involved around 120 to 150 service members from three coalition forces.