Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/799554
the borderland between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, having occupied a small part of SKA. the combat involved participation of land forces, cost the lives of around 130 Saudi soldiers, and ended in February 2010. a nEw purchaSE october 2010 – Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) pro- vides the uS Congress with documents required to issue an approval to sell another batch of Boeing's multipurpose F-15SA Strike Eagles to Saudi Arabia. the contract, totaling to 29.5 billion dollars, covered not only new aircraft, but also an upgrade of the F-15S Strike Eagles in use at that time. Apart from the said aircraft, the Saudis wanted to purchase the fol- lowing: Ä 170 APG-63(v)3 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar Ä (AESA) radar sets Ä 193 F-110-GE-129 Improved Performance Engines Ä 100 M61 Vulcan Cannons Ä 100 Link-16 Multifunctional Information Distribution Ä System/Low Volume terminal (MIDS/LVt) and spares Ä 193 LANtIrN Navigation Pods (3rd Generation-tiger Eye) Ä 338 Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems (JHMCS) Ä 462 AN/AVS-9 Night Vision Goggles (NVGS) Ä 300 AIM-9X SIDEWINDEr Missiles Ä 25 Captive Air training Missiles (CAtM-9X) Ä 25 Special Air training Missiles (NAtM-9X) Ä 500 AIM-120C/7 Advanced Medium range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMrAAM) Ä 25 AIM-120 CAtMs Ä 1,000 Dual Mode Laser/Global Positioning System (GPS) Guided Munitions (500 lb) Ä 1,000 Dual Mode Laser/GPS Guided Munitions (2000 lb) Ä 1,100 GBu-24 PAVEWAY III Laser Guided Bombs (2000 lb) Ä 1,000 GBu-31B V3 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) (2000 lb) Ä 1,300 CBu-105D/B Sensor Fuzed Weapons (SFW)/Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD) Ä 50 CBu-105 Inert Ä 1,000 MK-82 500lb General Purpose Bombs Ä 6,000 MK-82 500lb Inert Training Bombs Ä 2,000 MK-84 2000lb General Purpose Bombs Ä 2,000 MK-84 2000lb Inert Training Bombs McDonnell Douglas, the manufacturer of the said F-15s, sought to get an approval of a two-seat F-15H (also multi-purpose and also without F-15E's equipment), but Washington opposed yet again. May 1993 brought approval for the sale of 72 multi-purpose F-15XPs, renamed later to F-15S Strike Eagles, to Saudi Arabia. The final contractual price amounted to 9 billion uS dollars. F-15S the F-15S was an export version of the F-15E Strike Eagle, equipped with Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 jet engines and an AN/APG-70 ra- dar (of limited features). 48 units were improved to fight ground-based targets; the improvement involved fitting them with Sharpshooter tar- geting pods and LANtIrN navigation pods. the remaining 24 were to come without the additional targeting and navigation pods because of the intention to use them in air-to-air missions. the basic set of weapons of F-15Ss included AGM-65D/G Maverick guided missiles and Paveway II bombs. the planned supplies started in 1995, with the aircraft distributed among three squadrons. Modernization works involving replacement of the aircraft's engines with F110-GE-129C be- gan in 2007. Their first combat appearance took place in 2009, when Saudi Arabia launched operations against Yemeni rebels fighting in www.fragoutmag.com