December 14, 2004: How good is the Royal Saudi Air Force? Well, on paper, it is a formidable force. The Saudis have built their Air Force around variants of the F-15 Eagle (about 70 F-15C, 22 F-15D, and 72 F-15S). They are able to buy the latest available electronic systems. If the Americans won't sell it, someone in Europe might, which is how Saudi Arabia became one of the major users of the Tornado, possessing a force on par with Italy's.
Saudi F-15S strike fighters have dumbed-down electronics (particularly the APG-70 radars), which does not make the Saudis happy. Saudi Arabia has had minor incidents with Iran in the past, and Iran back then was able to buy the latest air force equipment. The problem is Israel, which is also a heavy user of the F-15, and vigorously opposes Saudi Arabia (which officially proclaims that Israel must be destroyed) getting the most modern F-14 systems. Thus Saudi Arabia has not been able to acquire AMRAAMs air-to-air missiles. Israel also imposes, vis the United States conditions, like where the Saudis can base their F-15s. For example, they cannot be operated out of Tabuk, in northwestern Saudi Arabia. But while they have a lot of modern aircraft (in addition to their F-15 force, they have 24 Tornado ADVs and 48 Tornado IDSs), how effective are they?
Saudi pilots have been able to defeat Iranian and Iraqi opponents. However, the brief successes have masked problems. Even simple maintenance of military equipment is often farmed out to foreign contractors. For instance, in 1990, the Saudis complained that their M-60 main battle tanks were defective. The problem turned out to be failure to change a filter. Similar problems exist with the Royal Saudi Air Force, and this is much more degrading to its combat ability. A tank with a mechanical problem that comes up in training operations will often be recoverable and fixable. A plane with problems during a training mission will crash, rendering it as much of a loss as if it were shot down in combat — and it will sometimes kill a pilot (or the two-man crew), which is a multi-million dollar investment in and of itself. The Saudis can afford the pilots, and they can afford a lot of help from expatriates for maintenance.
The Saudis have a good force, but its effectiveness is heavily reliant on good ties with the United States for vital spare parts and maintenance. Should ties with the United States go downhill, the force of F-15s — the bulk of the modern Saudi air force — will be grounded because the American sources of spare parts and expatriate contractors will be pulled out. In essence, the Royal Saudi Air Force's effectiveness will be high as long as they stay on good terms with the United States. | And keep their expatriate contract maintenance troops from bugging out one step ahead of the jihadis |
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