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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Saudi Arabia
Index
Alpha jet of the Royal Saudi Air Force
Courtesy Armed Forces Office, Royal Saudi Arabian Embassy,
Washington
As of 1992, the first line combat air strength of the Royal
Saudi Air Force (RSAF) consisted of some 200 aircraft, organized
into six fighter/ground-attack squadrons and five fighter-air
defense squadrons. The personnel strength of the air force was
estimated to be about 18,000. Although modest in comparison to
the air power of neighboring countries, the RSAF was considered
to be the most modern and effective of the Saudi services. Its
mission was to defend the economic installations and the widely
scattered population centers of Saudi Arabia against attack and,
particularly, to repel air attacks or amphibious assaults against
the country's highly vulnerable oil pumping stations, processing
and loading facilities, and oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.
The first-line combat fighters were deployed at four key
airfields: Dhahran, to defend the main oil facilities of the
Persian Gulf; At Taif, covering the ports and holy cities of the
lower Red Sea; Khamis Mushayt, defending the Yemeni border zone;
and Tabuk, to defend the key ports of the upper Red Sea area and
Saudi air space adjacent to Jordan, Syria, and Israel. These four
bases and the air base at Riyadh were protected from air attack
by Improved Hawk (I-Hawk) SAMs, hardened aircraft shelters, and
underground command posts.
The RSAF was established in 1950 during the reign of Abd al
Aziz. Its early air operations had been under control of the
army. In its initial years, the air force was influenced chiefly
by the British, who provided aircraft and advisers and helped
train Saudi pilots and maintenance personnel in the kingdom and
in Britain. United States influence, emanating from the air base
at Dhahran that was leased by the United States from 1952 to
1962, was also pivotal to the early development of the Saudi air
force. Some United States aircraft were transferred to the RSAF
from units operating at Dhahran and the United States Military
Training Mission at Dhahran trained Saudi pilots and maintenance
personnel.
In 1972 the first of 114 Northrop F-5s were delivered to the
RSAF and, as of 1992, the air force still used three squadrons of
later versions of the F-5 in the fighter-ground attack role, one
squadron for reconnaissance, and a number of aircraft as advanced
jet trainers. In 1984 first deliveries were taken of the more
advanced F-15s. By 1992 the SAF had seventy-eight F-15s,
including fighter conversion trainers
(see Cooperation with the United States
, this ch.).
As a result of the United States rebuff, Saudi Arabia turned
to Britain to meet its requirements. In mid-1988, it was
announced that as part of a huge transaction, Saudi Arabia would
acquire Tornado fighters from Britain in their strike and air
defense configurations, plus Hawk jet trainers and Pilatus PC-9
trainers built in Switzerland and outfitted in Britain. As of
early 1992, three of the RSAF fighter-ground attack squadrons
were equipped with Tornadoes and three squadrons were equipped
with F-5Es. Two air defense squadrons were equipped with
Tornadoes and three squadrons were equipped with F-15Cs. The
three transport squadrons were equipped with C-130s in various
versions and CASA C-212s, a medium transport of Spanish design.
The two helicopter squadrons employed a variety of smaller
rotary-wing aircraft (see
table 13, Appendix). Undaunted by its
previous failure to establish an assured supply of combat
aircraft from the United States, Saudi Arabia announced in late
1991 that it had placed an order with McDonnell Douglas for an
additional seventy-two F-15s. It appeared doubtful whether the
sale would be approved by the United States administration and
the Congress.
Because ground-based radar could not provide adequate
advanced warning of attacks on sensitive targets along the
Persian Gulf, particularly from nearby Iranian air bases, Saudi
Arabia ordered five E-3A AWACS aircraft in 1981. To allay
Israel's concerns, the aircraft were equipped specifically for
the defensive needs of the Persian Gulf and Red Sea areas only.
The first aircraft reached operational status in 1987 in time to
assist United States naval operations in the tanker war in the
Persian Gulf. Training and support services were provided by the
Boeing Corporation and a United States Air Force team. Congress
required that the United States have substantial control over the
use of the airplanes and a sharing of the AWACS data.
In 1985 Saudi Arabia also contracted with a consortium headed
by Boeing for the Peace Shield command, control, communications,
and intelligence (C3I) system. Its purpose was to link
information collected by AWACS and ground-based surveillance
radar with fighters and ground air defense, including the I-Hawk
SAMs, to provide integrated air defense against attacks across
the gulf and Red Sea and from the direction of Yemen. In 1991 it
was announced that the Hughes Aircraft Corporation had assumed
management of the project, which had been subject to delays in
its completion.
Trailer-mounted Hawk missile launcher
Courtesy Armed Forces Office, Royal Saudi Arabian Embassy,
Washington
Truck carrying Shahine surface-to-air missiles
Courtesy Armed Forces Office, Royal Saudi Arabian Embassy,
Washington
Data as of December 1992
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