Frag Out! Magazine

Saudi EaglES throughout thE 20th cEntury Given Saudi Arabia's geography, the country has al- ways been in search of aircraft of extended range and able to carry out independent combat operations. In the 1970s, also AEW&C (airborne early warning and control) aircraft was taken into consideration, with the aim to make such aircraft the core of the country's bor- der surveillance system in desert areas. Saudi Arabians had been interested in buying American aircraft for a long time, but there were many political obstacles in the way. one of the problems was the pressure exerted by the pro-Israeli lobby in Washington to block the process sale, afraid of a disturbance of balance in the region (but it was still possible to fi- nalize the purchase of 114 Northrop F-5E/F tiger II fighters). The issue was partially solved in 1978, when the Camp David Accords were signed to regulate the diplomatic relationships between Israel, Egypt, and other Arabian countries. this paved the way to the signature of business agreements with Saudi Arabia in 1979. these agreements covered e.g. purchase of 62 F-15C/D Eagles and a supply of Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft to support rSAF in its operations. In order to address Israel's discontent and satisfy its uS- based political lobby's claims, the united States limit- ed the number of F-15 Eagles to be supplied to Saudi Arabia to 60 units – two units were to stay in the uSA to act as means of training assistance in the event of losses. The order was modified later on – instead of 47 F-15C and 15 F-15D fighters, Saudi Arabia got 46 F-15C and 16 F-15D fighters eventually. Their supplies, orga- nized under Peace Sun program, commenced in 1981 – the new American aircraft replaced the English BAC Lightning. the new aircraft were distributed among three squadrons (no. 5, no. 6, and no. 13). Like other F-15 earmarked for export, the rSAF Eagles did not feature AN/ALQ-128 Electronic Warfare Warning Set and AN/ALQ-135 electronic countermeasure (ECM) jamming system, and were not suited to carry nuclear bombs. What's more, at Israel's request, the aircraft were supplied without conformal fuel tanks – which would have made Israel within their operational range (but they were supplied to Saudi Arabians eventually anyway, after the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1990). Like in the case of the Israeli aircraft, the baptism of fire of the F-15s supplied to Saudi Arabia happened quite soon. On 5 June 1984, a pair of F-15Cs came across two Iranian McDonnell-Douglas F-4E Phantom II fight- ers over the waters of the Persian Gulf. the encounter ended with Saudi Arabian fighter pilots shooting both Phantoms down. Later on, Saudi Arabia made successive attempts to buy more F-15C/D Eagles, but the Saudis' efforts were turned down by the united States Congress because of the pressure from the Israel lobby. Further modern- ization of the country's military aviation depended on successful search of a new supplier. It was decided to go for the uK. A series of arms sales contracts, called collectively Al-Yamamah, was signed in 1985, covering sale of 48 Panavia Tornado IDS aircraft (including 6 Gr1A reconnaissance units), 24 ADV interceptors, 50 BAE Systems Hawk training units, and 50 turboprop Pilatus PC-9 aircraft. Apart from that, the riyadh gov- ernment obtained also a complete set of weaponry. Supplies of the ordered equipment began in August 1987, when another opportunity to buy more aircraft from the uSA appeared. A contract for the purchase of 12 F-15C/D Eagles was signed in 1989. Since the model was discontinued, all new airframe were modified versions of the F-15E Strike Eagle. Because of the continued embargo limit- ing the volume supplies to Saudi Arabia to 60 planes, the whole batch was maintained at St. Louis facility, waiting as reserve resources to replenish the potential losses. But everything changed with Iraq's invasion in Kuwait. the said embargo on F-15 Eagles was lifted right away, and the united States decided to provide Saudi Arabia with another 24 F-15C/Ds from their own stock (again, with removed AN/ALQ-128 and AN/ALQ-135). As it turned out, the newly-supplied aircraft played a crucial part in combating the Iraqi forces – their pilots man- aged to e.g. shoot down two Iraqi Mirage F1s. After the war, Saudi Arabia went on to try and purchase further aircraft, focusing on multipurpose solutions, which resulted from the recent combat experience and the capacity of the assembly line in St. Louis. the plan was to buy 24 single-seat F-15Fs, a more "budget" version of the F-15E Strike Eagle (i.e. without some navigation and targeting equipment). the sale of these aircraft was, however, blocked by the uS Congress. www.fragoutmag.com

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