Royal Saudi Air Force
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القوات الجوية الملكية السعودية |
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|---|---|
| Lineup | 1920s |
| Country |
 Saudi Arabia
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| Type | Armed forces (air force) |
| insignia | |
| Aircraft cockade |
 
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| National emblem ( vertical stabilizer ) |
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Saudi Arabian Air Force Bases (blue) and cities (red) |
The internationally known as the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) ( Arabic القوات الجوية الملكية السعودية, DMG al-quwwāt al-ǧawwiyya al-malakiyya as-saʿūdiyya ) designated air forces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are the third of five branches of the armed forces of Saudi Arabia . With a personnel strength of over 20,000, it is by far the most powerful air force on the Arabian Peninsula .
history
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The Royal Air Force of Saudi Arabia was established with British help in the mid-1920s . In the 1950s it was reorganized and from 1952 it received support from the United States Air Force , which from then on shared the military airfield in Dhahran .
In the 1980s and 1990s, the size of the Saudi armed forces was still modest compared to other countries in the Near and Middle East, but even then it was based on the most modern types of aircraft such as the Tornado IDS and F-15C Eagle . The RSAF's largest combat mission at all occurred at this time, its participation in the Second Gulf War in the spring of 1991.
In the past decades the RSAF has been continuously modernized and enlarged. A few years ago, the desert kingdom was the first non-European customer to order the Eurofighter Typhoon as a multi-purpose fighter aircraft from the United Kingdom ; the USA received a mammoth order for further F-15SA and various helicopters (the latter are also partly operated by the land forces) at the end of 2011.
bases
The RSAF ensures the deployment in the area through seven main operational bases :
- King Faisal Air Base ( Tabuk ), Training Center, RSAF Wing 7 (F-15, Hawk)
- King Khalid Military City ( Hafar Al-Batin ), Helicopter Base , RSAF Wing 4 (AB212)
- King Abdul Aziz Air Base ( Dhahran ), combat aircraft and helicopter base, RSAF Wing 3 (F-15, Bell 412) and Wing 11 (Tornado, Jetstream)
- Prince Sultan Air Base ( Al-Chardsch ), Early Warning and Tanker Base, RSAF Wing 6 (E-3, KC-130)
- King Abdullah Air Base ( Jeddah ), Air Transport Base , RSAF Wing 8 (C-130)
- King Fahad Air Base ( Ta'if ), fighter aircraft and helicopter base, RSAF Wing 2 (Typhoon, F-15, AV212 / Bell 412)
- King Khalid Air Base ( Chamis Muschait ), fighter aircraft and helicopter base, RSAF Wing 1 and Wing 5 (F-15, AS532, AB412, Bell 412)
equipment
The equipment of the RSAF is mainly equipped with US and British / European aircraft types as well as European, in the future Russian and especially US helicopters. The status of the equipment at the end of 2011 is shown below.
Planes
- Warplanes
- 18 Eurofighter Typhoon , multi- role combat aircraft (54 more ordered)
- 130 Boeing F-15C / S / SA Eagle , air superiority fighter
- 82 Panavia Tornado IDS , multi- role fighter aircraft
- Aircraft for special missions
- 5 Boeing KE-3A Sentry , early warning aircraft
- 2 Beech King Air 350 , reconnaissance aircraft
- 1 Boeing RE-3A, early warning aircraft
- 2 Saab 2000 , (2 AEW & C, 1 as a trainer without radar equipment)
- Transport and tanker aircraft
- 6 Airbus A330 MRTT , tanker and transport aircraft
- 6 Airbus Military CN-235 , transport aircraft
- 7 Boeing KE-3A, tanker aircraft
- 7 Lockheed KC-130H Hercules , tanker aircraft (plus 5 KC-130J inquired in 2012, 2 of which ordered in 2013)
- 34 Lockheed C-130H / H-30 / L100-100-30 Hercules (27/3/4), transport aircraft (plus 20 C-130J-30 2012 requested)
- 0 Antonov An-178 , transport aircraft (30 aircraft ordered at the end of 2015)
- 1 BAE Jetstream 31 , transport aircraft
- Training aircraft
- 6 Eurofighter Typhoon, combat trainer (6 more ordered)
- Twenty Boeing F-15D Eagle, combat trainer
- 45 BAE Hawk Mk.65 / A , advanced trainer (22 Hawk Mk.165 ordered in 2012 to replace the Mk.65 / A in the long term, supply from 2016)
- 55 Pilatus PC-21 , basic trainer
- 47 Pilatus PC-9 , basic trainer
- 1 SAAB 2000, trainer (as AEW & trainer without radar equipment)
helicopter
- 5 Agusta Bell AB205 , multipurpose helicopter
- 14 Eurocopter AS332 / 532 , transport helicopter
- 0 Eurocopter EC725 , multipurpose helicopters (12 ordered)
- 0 MIL Mi-17 , transport helicopter (120 ordered)
- 0 MIl Mi-35 , attack helicopter (30 ordered)
- 2 Sikorsyky UH-60L , transport helicopters
See also
- Saudi Arabian National Guard (armament)
Individual evidence
