Royal Saudi Air Force

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Royal Saudi Air Force
Active
Country	Saudi Arabia
Part of	Saudi Arabian Armed Forces
Nickname	RSAF
Engagements	Gulf War : Desert Shield Battle of Khafji Desert Storm
Commanders
Chief of Armed forces	Khalid bin Sultan
Notable commanders	Sultan bin Salman
Insignia
RSAF Roundels

The Royal Saudi Air Force (Arabic: القوات الجوية الملكية السعودية‎, Al Quwwat al Jawwiya al Malakhiah as Sa'udiya), is the air force branch of Saudi Arabian armed forces. After the Israeli Air Force (900 aircraft) the RSAF has the second largest air combat capability in the Middle East. The RSAF has developed from a largely defensive military force into one with an advanced offensive capability. The RSAF maintains the third largest fleet of F-15's after the USAF and the JASDF.

The backbone of the RSAF today is the Boeing F-15 Eagle aircraft, with the Panavia Tornado also forming a major component. The Tornado and many other aircraft were delivered under the Al Yamamah contracts with British Aerospace (now BAE Systems). The RSAF ordered various weapons in the 1990s, including Sea Eagle anti-ship missiles, laser-guided bombs, and gravity bombs.

The RSAF announced its intention to purchase the Eurofighter Typhoon from BAE Systems in December 2005. On 18 August 2006 a memorandum of understanding was signed for 72 aircraft in a GB£6-10 billion deal.^[1]

On the 17th September 2007 Saudi Arabia announced they had signed a £4.4bn deal with BAE for 72 Eurofighter Typhoons.^[2]

Recent information state that Saudi Arabia has decided to turn to other suppliers for its military equipment. In November 2007, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Russia and Saudi Arabia which may result in a purchase of up to 150 new Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters in a deal worth over 2.2 billion USD. The deal itself hasn't been signed yet but French manufacturers have confirmed that their orders have been canceled.

Contents 1 History 2 Divisions 3 Units of the RSAF 4 Current RSAF aircraft 5 Notes & References 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] History

The RSAF was formed in the mid-1920s with British assistance. It was re-organized in 1950 and began to receive American assistance from 1952 including the use of Dhahran by the United States Air Force.

The Saudi forces are equipped with mainly western hardware. Main suppliers are the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Both the UK and the US are involved in training programs conducted in Saudi Arabia.

For Middle Eastern standards the armed forces of Saudi Arabia are relatively small. Its strength however is derived from advanced technology and not from numerical superiority. This is why the armed forces are under a continuing modernization program. The backbone of the fighter force is formed by 134 Tornado's from which a batch of 48 Tornado IDS was ordered in 1993 under the al-Yamamah II program and 72 F-15S aircraft delivered from the mid-90s that operate besides the 41 F-15C/D aircraft delivered in the early 90s. Aircraft training is executed on the Pilatus PC-9, BAe Hawk, Boeing F-15D Eagle and the Northrop F-5F Tiger II. The C-130 is the mainstay of the transport fleet and the Hercules is assisted by CASA CN-235s. Reconnaissance is performed by 17sq with their RF-5E and the Boeing E-3A is the Airborne Early Warning platform operated by 18sq.

The VIP support fleet consists of a wide variety of civil registered aircraft such as the Boeing B707, B737 and B747, Lockheed Tri-Stars, MD11s and G1159A as well as Lockheed L-100-30. The HZ- prefix used in the civilian registrations of these aircraft derived from the former name of the territory (Hejaz)

[edit] Divisions

The RSAF units are divided into Wings that are dispersed across the seven air bases:

• RSAF Wing 1 at Hafar Al-Batin
• RSAF Wing 2 at Taif
• RSAF Wing 3 at Dhahran
• RSAF Wing 4 at Riyadh
• RSAF Wing 5 at Khamis Mushayt
• RSAF Wing 6 at Al Kharj (Prince Sultan Air Base)
• RSAF Wing 7 at Tabuk
• RSAF Wing 8 at Jeddah

[edit] Units of the RSAF

• 1 Squadron (Royal Flight)
• 2 Squadron (F-15)
• 3 Squadron (F-5)
• 4 Squadron (C-130)
• 5 Squadron (F-15)
• 6 Squadron (F-15)
• 7 Squadron (Tornado IDS)
• 8 Squadron (Reims Cessna 172)
• 9 Squadron (PC-9)
• 12 Squadron (Bell 212)
• 13 Squadron (F-15)
• 14 Squadron (Helicopters)
• 15 Squadron (F-5)
• 16 Squadron (C-130)
• 18 Squadron (E-3/KE-3A)
• 19 Squadron (RE-3A)
• 21 Squadron (Hawk)
• 22 Squadron (PC-9)
• 29 Squadron (Tornado ADV)
• 32 Squadron (KC-130H)
• 34 Squadron (F-15)
• 35 Squadron (Jetstream)
• 44 Squadron (Bell 412)
• 55 Squadron (F-15)
• 75 Squadron (Tornado IDS)
• 79 Squadron (Tornado ADV)
• 83 Squadron (Tornado IDS)
• 88 Squadron (Hawk)
• 92 Squadron (F-15)
• 99 Squadron (Cougar)

[edit] Current RSAF aircraft

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Versions	In service	Notes
Agusta-Bell 212	Italy	Transport Helicopter	-	27
Agusta-Bell AS-61	Italy	Transport Helicopter	AS-61A-4	3	Royal Flight
Airbus A340	France	Transport	A340-213	1	Royal Flight
BAe 125	United Kingdom	Transport	800B	4	Royal Flight
BAe Hawk	United Kingdom	Advanced Trainer	Mk 65 Mk 65A	30 20
BAe Jetstream	United Kingdom	Trainer	31	2
Bell 205	United States	Transport Helicopter	-	24
Bell 406 Combat Scout	United States	Attack Helicopter	406CS	?	Operated by Royal Saudi Land Forces
Bell 412	United States	Transport Helicopter	412EP	2
Boeing 747	United States	VIP Transport	747-300 747SP	2	Royal Flight
Boeing 757	United States	Medical Transport	-	1
Boeing AH-64 Apache	United States	Attack Helicopter	AH-64A	12	Operated by the Royal Saudi Land Forces
Boeing Business Jet	United States	Transport	BBJ1 BBJ2	1 1	Royal Flight
Boeing E-3 Sentry	United States	Airborne Early Warning		5	-
Boeing F-15 Eagle	United States	Fighter	F-15C F-15D	57 25	-
Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle	United States	Strike fighter	F-15S	71	-
Boeing KE-3A	United States	Airborne Refuelling	KE-3A	8	-
CASA CN-235	Spain	Transport	CN235M-10	4	Royal Flight
Cessna 550 Citation	United States	Transport	C550	2	Royal Flight
Eurocopter AS-532 Cougar	France	Combat Search and Rescue	AS 532M	12
Aérospatiale AS-365 Dauphin	France	Naval Helicopter Medical Helicopter	SA 365F SA 365N	24	SA365F operated by Royal Saudi Naval Forces
Eurocopter SA-332 Super Puma	France	Naval Helicopter	AS-332F	13	Operated by Royal Saudi Naval Forces
Eurofighter Typhoon	United Kingdom  Spain  Germany  Italy	Air Defence	Typhoon F.2	0	72 ordered
Gates Learjet 35	United States	Transport	35A	2
Gulfstream III	United States	Transport	-	2
Gulfstream V	United States	Medical Transport	-	?
Kawasaki-Vertol 107	Japan	Transport Helicopter	-	18	Operated by Ministry of the Interior
Lockheed C-130 Hercules	United States	Transport	C-130E C-130H KC-130H VC-130H	42
Lockheed L-100	United States	Transport	L-100-30	?
McDonnell Douglas MD-11	United States	Transport	MD-11	1	Royal Flight
Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter	United States	Fighter	F5A F-5B	110
Super Mushshak	Pakistan	Trainer	-	20
Panavia Tornado IDS	United Kingdom	Ground Attack		87
Panavia Tornado ADV	United Kingdom	Fighter		24
Pilatus PC-9	Switzerland	Trainer	-	50
Reims Cessna F172	France	Trainer	F172G F172H F172M	8
Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk	United States	Transport Helicopter	S-70A-1 S-70A-1L	12	S-70A-1L operated by the Royal Saudi Land Force
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk	United States	Transport Helicopter	VH-60L	18	Operated by Royal Saudi Land Force
Total :				+817	Including the 72 Eurofighter Typhoon

[edit] Notes & References

1. ^ [1] - Forbes.com
2. ^ [2] - BBC.co.uk

[edit] See also

• Saudi ranks

[edit] External links

• Order of Battle at Scramble

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