Qayyarah Airfield West () is an Iraqi Air Force base in the Qayyarah subdistrict of Mosul District in northern Iraq. It was captured by U.S. Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. It was also known as Q–West or Key West by the various U.S. Army Forces and civilian contractors stationed there. Control of the base was returned to Iraq in March 2020. History Saddam Era Formerly known as Saddam Airbase, the facility is located west of the Tigris River, west of Qayyarah town, south of Mosul and about north of Baghdad. Qayyarah West AB was built in the late 1970s and was one of several Iraqi Air Force airfields of the 1970s which were re-built under project "Super-Base" in response to experiences from the Arab-Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973. It became a major airfield during the 1980s war with Iran, when it was the main hub for Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1EQ operations, and when it was the first airbase of Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23MLs. Later during that war, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25s also operated from there. Reportedly, in 2002, the 9th Squadron, and the 79th and 89th Squadrons, respectively flying MiG-21s and Mirage F1s were operating from the base. The secondary "Sector-Operations Center" (SOC) of the Northern Command IrAF was based here until March 2003. There were two Weapon Storage Areas (WSA) located 10 and 12 kilometers to the north that were probably associated with Qayyarah West. WSA 1 had 30 munition storage igloos and is 1640 acres in size. WSA 2 had 42 munition storage igloos and is 800 acres in size. It is not known whether these storage areas were built after the Gulf War or whether they were struck during the bombing of Iraq in 1998. Initial United States military use During Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003, the base was heavily attacked by Coalition airpower and seized by Coalition ground forces. When US troops arrived on May 23, the main runway and the control tower, set about two miles away from the headquarters compound, had suffered damage. More than thirty craters were the result of precision bombing by American planes during both Gulf Wars: about 13 craters were gouged out of the long main strip, and another 30 impact craters destroyed surrounding runways and lesser airstrips; some of the craters reached 30 feet in depth, and 120 feet in diameter. By July 2003, Qayyarah West Airfield was the