Defence Posture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Establishing National Guards Air force

Saudi Armed Forces are defensive in nature. Defending the territories of its neighbouring states is considered a part of its own defensive policy. The important role it took in the operations leading to the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, is a good enough pointer of that policy. SAF enjoy a great deal of manoeuvrability, which was, and still is, an important factor in winning battles.

Saudi Royal Air Forces, alongside Saudi Navy, are the backbone, and the striking arm, of SAF. The air forces are capable of leading a counter offensive in case of a foreign attack against the kingdom.

An important defence factor in the Saudi defence policy is the Saudis’ belief that they are responsible for defending the Islamic Holy places. The vast span of Saudi deserts, well known to Saudis, is considered another important factor in the policy.

Saudi Air Defence policy relies on three branches: 1-Air Force, which has a role of supporting land forces. The Air Force has two strike squadrons consisting of 88 Tornado IDSs, 70 F15Cs, and four interceptor squadrons. The Air Force has 12 Apache helicopters, 21 Sikorsky Black Hawk, and 21 others for non-combat mission. The Air Force will own dozens of fighter helicopters in the near future. 2-Naval Aviation has 18 Dauphin helicopters, 12 Super Puma planes, half of which are wired for AM39 anti-ship missiles. The Navy will acquire, according to a new armament plans, 10 NH-90 helicopters, and four Panther helicopters. 3-National Guard Air Force: This special air force will have 12 European Tiger TTH-90 helicopters, and a dozen planes of another type.

Armed forces in the kingdom include Land forces (75,000 soldiers) and National Guard (same number of soldiers).
Land Forces: The structure of Saudi Land Forces consists of 4 mechanised division HQs with three armoured brigades (each brigade includes three armoured battalion, a mechanised infantry battalion, an air defence battalion, and an anti-tank battalion).
Saudi defence policy emphasizes the importance of an effective and strong naval presence in the Gulf and Red sea areas. Saudi Navy includes two fleets: Red Sea Western Fleet Command in Jeddah, Gulf Eastern Fleet Command in Al-Jubayl, while Naval Head Quarters are in Riyadh.

Royal Saudi Navy relies on three most modern French made frigates (Lafayette, DCN), in addition to eight other frigates (Madina and Badre class). The navy has 9 Al Siddiq class missile FACs, seven mine hunters, 56 coastal patrol crafts and inshore fast crafts. The coastal defence includes four truck-mounted OTOMAT batteries, and dozens of other patrol crafts.

Dubai Air Show 2007

Dubai Air Show is the leading event of the international companies in the field of Air Industry. The tenth session of the show was held in Dubai Airport, from 11 till 15 November, 2007, in which deals reaching more than 100 Billion Dollars were concluded.

The number of specialized companies, producing commercial, military, and helicopter airplanes, participating in the show reached 850 from 50 countries.

The show would be held in its future sessions in Dubai World Center, in Jabal Ali. The center includes the largest airport in the world with a capacity of 120 Million passengers yearly.

Dubai Air Show 2007, hosted 140 commercial planes, and welcomed 45,421 professional visitors.

The leading exhibitors in the show were:

1. UAE: with 192 companies participating, such as ADCOM military industries, Dubai Aircraft Enterprises, GAMCO, Mubadala, ISNR, and IDEX.
2. USA: 164 participating companies, such as Boeing, DynCorp, General Electric, Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky, Textron, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman.
3. Britain: 104 companies, such BAE Systems, DESO, Farnborough, Goodrich, Meggit, Rolls Royce.
4. Germany: 62 companies, such as Diehl, MTU, and Karcher.
5. France: 43 companies: Dassault, Eurocopter, GIFAS, MBDA, SAFRAN, Thales.
6. Russia: 34 exhibitors: Almaz-Antey, Rosoboronexport, SUKHOI, Kazan,
7. Canada: 25 companies: Bombardier, Pratt & Whitney.
8. Jordan: 17 exhibitors JAI, Seabird Aviation, RJAF.
9. Switzerland: Participated with 14 companies: Pilatus, Ruag.
10. Italy: Participated with 13 companies: Agusta Westland, Finmeccanica, and SELEX.

Many military planes made demonstration flights. Patrouille de France made many demonstrative air shows, so did Red Arrows squad.

The show witnessed fierce competition between air industry giants Boeing and Airbus. Emirates signed a USD 31 Billion deal with Airbus to buy 143 airplanes. Qatar Airways signed a USD 22 Billion deal with Boeing to buy 92 airplanes. Boeing is marketing its new Dreamliner 787, while Airbus has its Super Jumbo A380.

Dubai air show was launched in 1989. Two hundred exhibitors participated in its first session in one hall, while 25 planes were exhibited in the outside areas. The show witnessed continuous expansion in exhibiting areas, and in the number of exhibitors. The 2005 session was very successful by every means.

Modern Combat in Urban Warfare

Urban Warfare is one of the facets of modern wars. Fighting takes place in populated areas such as cities and towns. The presence of buildings and civilians renders this type of war a complicated one.

Cities played an important military role throughout history. Situated near the cities are many important facilities, such as roads, railroads, and seaports. Thus controlling cities become important, strategically speaking.

Stalingrad and Saigon are two old examples of urban warfare. Many more examples are added in modern times. Soviet tanks were transformed into heaps of ashes in Afghanistan, and so did American tanks in the streets of the Iraqi town of Fallujah. The Israeli witnessed the destruction of their Mirkava tanks in the streets of Ma’araka and Maroon Al-Rass, Lebanon, in the battles of July, 2006.

Americans call this type of fighting Military Operations in Urban Territory, while the British use the term Fighting In Buildings of Urban Areas.

The most important lessons drawn from Urban Warfare were:

1. Using tanks, armoured vehicles, and heavy trucks make them an easy target to the well- hidden fighters.
2. It is far better to use small fighting units instead of sizable ones.
3. Relying on infantry special units.
4. Equipping the units with advanced light weapons.

Modern equipment for UW: Defending oneself, and inflicting high losses within the enemy, in addition to defending innocent civilians are considered high priorities. Those principles require high-technology modern military equipment. Information Technology is an essential part in the modern military weaponry in these days.

• Future Soldier Systems are a must for elite fighters. Specialized companies in producing defence systems in USA and France. These systems infuse a certain degree of self-confidence, and decrease the time needed to end the battle. United States Army introduced Land Worrier Program, while the French Army introduced Infantry Soldier FELIN System. These new systems provide the soldier with enough self-confidence, thanks to surveillance and intelligence equipment.
• Unmanned Ground Vehicles became an integral part of the fighting equipment. These vehicles are used to implement definite and dangerous missions, such as discovering and detonating mines, or explosive devices in caves, mountainous passes, or inside sewage systems in inhabited areas. These devices save human lives before occupying these areas. Companies producing UGV’s introduced three types: Armed Robotic Vehicles suitable for storming operations and shooting from the weapons included in the UGV.
• Weapons and anti armours-Fortification missiles, including RPG launcher, and MNL (hand grenades).
• Flame launchers used to burn the contents of caves and trenches and hideouts.

Tactical Missiles in Arab Armed Forces

Missiles had become the main weapon for modern armed forces. Developing countries nowadays are permitted to own tactical surface- to- surface missiles, with a maximum range of 300 Km, such as the Soviet, and the North Korean, SCUD-B missiles. Russia has the tactical missile launcher SMERCH with 70 to 90 Km range. SMERCH has a high manoeuvrability, and huge fire capability.

Egyptian armed forces have lots of old Soviet made 122 mm, M88 missile launchers. The Egyptians had recently purchased 26 MLRS missile launchers, and extended the range of some other missiles.
Sultanate of Oman bought 90 Chinese 122 mm missile launchers.
Qatar has 4 Brazilian ASTROS-2 launchers.
Saudi Arabia has 60 ASTROS-2. The kingdom is the only state in the region that owns strategic missiles with a range of more than 1000 Km.

Strategic Missiles:

Saudi Arab Kingdom is the only country in the region that owns strategic missiles with a range exceeding 1000 Km.

Semi-Strategic Systems:

Algeria owns 18 Frog-4, and Frog-7 rocket launcher and 50 rockets, with a range of 70 Km. Egypt have 24 SCUD launchers, and a number of Frog launchers.

Air-to- ground Missiles:

United Arab Emirates is the only Arab state that owns these precision missiles, while Saudi Arabia Kingdom is modifying its Tornado planes to carry such missiles. Air- to-air Missiles: Saudi Arabia Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain purchased air-to-air, medium range, AMRAAM-120. These missiles can hit target 60 kilometres away.

Air Defence:

Algeria and Syria will acquire Favorit S-300 PMU-2 missile air defence systems batteries. These multi-role systems are considered a qualitative development. S-300 missiles are capable of downing ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and planes flying at high altitudes. It is said that the US government will enable Kuwait, Saudi Arabian Kingdom, and Emirates to acquire advanced Patriot PAC-3, which are capable of intercepting missiles with precision.

Arab arsenals will need in the near future some higher precision air-to surface and other types of missiles. Missiles can make up for the inability of Arab airplanes to penetrate the airspaces of other countries. These missiles cannot be obtained easily, especially those exceeding 300 Km in range.

Role of Wheeled Vehicles in Peace Keeping Missions

The importance of tanks in American and European arsenals declined immensely after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Tanks were considered, back then, the backbone of fierce and regular wars. The role of wheeled armoured vehicles, in contrast, was in the rise. These vehicles - which can be carried by C-130 planes, and equipped with 25 mm guns, and some other types - are considered suitable for small-scale wars.

There are three trends regarding the use of tanks. The Canadians ruled that tanks should be excluded completely from battlefronts. They planned to employ 132 Stryker 8X8 wheeled vehicles, some of which carry 105 mm movable gun, while others are equipped with anti-tank TUA missiles. The Stryker’s heavy weight and height posed a problem when air carried.

The Americans called for mixed use of wheeled and tank equipped brigades.
The Europeans were in favour of producing new versions of wheeled vehicles, such as Boxer, Piranha, and Arrow that could be carried by the newly designed A-400.

Afghanistan and Iraq are two important test grounds for testing the theory of using wheeled vehicles, and the possibility of replacing their tanks. These vehicles showed great manoeuvrability. But the ambushes set by Afghani and Iraqi groups presented real threat to wheeled vehicles.

Lessons extracted from the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan showed that the vehicles’ weapons are far from enough in the battles with the rebels. The Canadians returned to the use of tanks in Afghanistan, and introduced plans to buy modern tanks, such as A-4 and A-6 Leopard. This development, however, did not mean the end of wheeled vehicles.

Many Western countries found it logical to reduce their arsenal of heavy tanks to two hundred, or four hundred tanks. The initial Canadian proposal was subjected to complete evaluation. Possessing the capability of deploying forces in emergency cases is necessary to reduce the dangers threatening soldiers participating in such operations. In the near future European states will have to take major decisions in order to prove that its capability of designing tanks and its weaponry, has not reached its end yet.

Russia is developing a new tank having stealth specifications. China announces a new version of its tank Type-85 every 5 or 6 years. The Type- 98 of this tank is heavier than its Soviet counterpart. These two countries are developing their existing wheeled vehicles.

Arab Navies and the need for Frigates

Gulf States are developing their navies continuously. Gulf is considered a hot area, because of its strategic oil resources, and the dangers imposed in the past, and still imposed, by some neighbouring countries. The safe passage of oil resources, considered vital to world economy, is a major obligation of these states. The conflict with Iran over the three Emirati islands, in addition to a set of probable dangers upon other islands, is the second cause prompting these states to enhance its navies.

What is the importance of modern frigates? Modern frigates are built upon the specifications of clients. But the more important question is: Why should Arab countries own modern frigates?

Among the most important reasons:

1. It is no use having old non-stealth vessels easily seen by the enemy, while not having the capability to discover its own enemy. A small modern boat, well equipped with missiles, can beat an old frigate however large.
2. A modern frigate is capable of defending a large portion of coastal area. This type of frigates is capable of preventing any penetration moves by the enemy, if coupled with a patrol plane.
3. Modern frigate is capable of combating in Blue (deep) Seas. It can sail to places of tension very far off its base. It is suitable for defending the vast Arab coasts (21,600 Km).
4. National security considerations call for high readiness in order to face dangers developing in a short period of time, or unexpected ones. It is mandatory to abandon old theories stating that navies can only play a secondary role. Navies enjoy the same importance as Air Force, being the first defence line against the ballistic missiles of the enemy.

Security possibilities facing the Gulf States:

1. Penetration of terrorist groups.
2. Hitting precious strategic facilities in the region with conventional or ballistic missiles.
3. Air strikes against these facilities.
4. Disturbances in Gulf States. Acquiring modern frigates is part of facing these possibilities.

Bahrain: Bahraini navy owns three frigates, and four helicopters.
Kuwait: Kuwaiti navy fleet includes ten missiled FAC (Al SANBOUK), and other patrol crafts.
Sultanate of Oman: Owns two frigates and 4 missiles FAC.
Saudi Arab Kingdom: The striking force of the Saudi Navy consists of three frigates, and 9 missiled FAC. A fleet of naval Dauphine and Super Puma helicopters supports this striking naval force. The kingdom has plans to acquire FREMM modern frigates, but it is considering buying the American modern frigates LCS-1.
United Arab Emirates: The Emirates will buy the Al-Baynona French made Frigates.
Egypt: Considered the largest, and the most experienced, naval Arab force. Egypt intends to rebuild its navy by replacing its old naval ships. Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, are developing their navies by acquiring new frigates or missile boats.