The airstrip, which was renamed "Shamsi" (meaning "Solar" in Arabic) by the Emirati Sheikhs, was developed into a jet-capable airfield by the UAE.

[2] The US constructed two permanent and one portable hangars at Shamsi for housing drones, in addition, to support and residential facilities, and recarpeted the asphalt runway to enable its use by large and heavy military aircraft.

[3] In February 2009, The Times (London) claimed that it had obtained Google Earth images from 2006 that showed Predator drones parked outside a hangar at the end of the runway at Shamsi.

The New York Times cited a senior Pakistani military official as saying that in 2009 the drone operations were moved across the border to Afghanistan.

[14] On 9 December 2011, soldiers of Pakistan's Frontier Constabulary arrived at the nearby village of Washuk to position themselves to retake Shamsi.