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| Arabia |
| US Agrees to Permanent F-15 Deployment at Tabuk |
| 2003-12-19 |
| From Middle East Newsline The Bush administration has agreed to lift restrictions on the deployment of advanced U.S.-origin aircraft procured by the Saudi Royal Air Force. U.S. officials said the changes would allow the Saudi air force to deploy its fleet of F-15 fighter-jets anywhere in the kingdom. They said this would include the deployment of the F-15 in the Saudi air force base of Tabuk, about 150 kilometers from Israel. We must figure now that the F-15s are targeted well enough by the IDF and that the Saudi and Pak pilots are not a threat. Congress was notified of the lifting of the U.S. restrictions in early 2003, the officials said. They said Israel was also told that Saudi F-15S aircraft could operate from Tabuk. Rummy: "The F-15s can now operate from Tabuk." Israel: "Hokay. [to assistant: ’Moshe, kindly activate ordinance targeting program for Tabuk.’]" Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has sent a letter to Congress regarding the lifting of the U.S. restrictions on the F-15 in Saudi Arabia, officials said. The letter cited the Saudi need to defend its air space amid the deterioration of its aging F-5 and Tornado fleets. And what external threat to its airspace, pray tell, is the Saudis facing? Iran? Jordan? Yemen? Oman? Israel? |
| Posted by:Alaska Paul |
| #6 Given the snarky comments I've read on some mil-blogs re the maintenance load of aging -14s, even in our guy's hands, it'd be a wonder if any of the Iranian ones weren't reduced to hangar queen status by now. |
| Posted by: Nero 2003-12-19 8:00:20 PM |
| #5 OP, those were F-14s, not F-15s, and last I read the number of flyable F-14s could be counted with one hand. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-12-19 7:30:35 PM |
| #4 I guess the Israeli air defense missile system must be fully deployed now, then. The only bad thing, from the Saudi standpoint, of "permanently" stationing F-15s at Tabuk will be the exhorbitant amount of maintenance they'll need. That is NOT the most hospitable territory for any aircraft. As a matter of curiosity, how many of the 72 F-15s the US sold the Shah of Iran are still flyable? Last I heard, they were down into single digits, and forced to cannibalize for spare parts. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-12-19 6:52:25 PM |
| #3 aging F-5 and Tornado fleets Little premature aging? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-19 3:22:31 PM |
| #2 I wonder if these have been equipped with some sort of RC "off" switch? Yup, it's called a Tomahawk. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-12-19 3:06:37 PM |
| #1 I wonder if these have been equipped with some sort of RC "off" switch? |
| Posted by: BH 2003-12-19 2:46:20 PM |