Saudi Arabian Armed Forces

The armed forces of Saudi Arabia were formed with significant military-technical support from the United States and Great Britain , which supplied weapons and military equipment , and also provided military specialists to Riyadh. Only in 1975-1977. in Saudi Arabia, there were about 2 thousand British military specialists and instructors ^[4] . France also took part in arming the Saudi army. Only in 1974-1978. the kingdom bought $ 1.5 billion worth of weapons from France ^[5] . As a result, by 1979 the Saudi army had become a powerful structure, it numbered about 120 thousand people, including 58 thousand in land forces, 40 thousand in the National Guard, 15 thousand in the Air Force, 3 thousand in the navy and 3 thousand more in frontier troops. Armed with this powerful army were about 800 tanks, 200 airplanes and 30 warships. ^[6]

The number of armed forces is constantly growing, so in 1990 they numbered only 90 thousand people. The main supplier of weapons for the kingdom is traditionally the United States (85% of all weapons). The country produced its own armored personnel carriers.

According to royal decree number 226 in 2011 , the Ministry of Defense and Aviation was renamed the Ministry of Defense . At the same time, civil aviation was excluded from the ministry structure. Currently, the armed forces of Saudi Arabia are under the Ministry of Defense. Since 1962, the king’s brother, Prince Sultan ibn Abdulaziz Al Saud , served as minister of defense. In November 2011, after the death of the prince, the post of head of the defense department was taken by Prince Salman ibn Abdulaziz Al Saud .

Structure

• Commander in Chief - King of Saudi Arabia
• defense Department
• General base
• Military inspection

Military Districts

Saudi Arabia is divided into six military districts ^[9] : Central (headquarters in Riyadh ), Northern (headquarters in Hafr al-Batin), Western (headquarters in Jeddah ), North-West (headquarters in Ta-Buka), Southern (headquarters in Khamis Mushayt) and East (headquarters in D -Dammam ).

Ground Forces

Ground forces comprise about 80 thousand people. Command is carried out through the General Staff .

Combat composition:

• 10 brigades , including: 4 armored (3 tank battalions , mechanized battalion, reconnaissance battalion, anti-tank battalion, divisions of artillery and air defense), 5 mechanized (3 mechanized battalions, 1 tank battalion, support battalion, divisions of artillery and air defense), 1 the airborne (2 parachute battalions, 3 special forces companies);
• 8 artillery battalions ;
• 2 brigades of army aviation ;
• infantry brigade of the Royal Guard (3 infantry battalion).
• also border troops .

Armament: 1055 tanks , 170 SAU , 238 towed guns, 400 mortars, 60 MLRS , 2400 ATGM , 970 infantry fighting vehicles , 300 armored vehicles , 1900 air defense missile systems . ^[9]

Naval forces

Number: 15.5 thousand people. It consists of Western (in the Red Sea) and Eastern (in the Persian Gulf) fleets .

Composition:

• 18 ships (7 frigates , 4 corvettes , 7 minesweepers ) and 75 boats (including 9 missile , 8 landing ).
• Naval aviation : 31 helicopters, including 21 combat.
• Marines : a regiment of 2 battalions (3,000 people).
• Coast Defense Forces - 4 batteries of mobile missile systems.

Air Force

The number of 19 thousand people. It is armed with 293 combat aircraft, 78 helicopters.

Air Defense Forces

The number of air defense forces is 16 thousand people. Merged into a single system with the United States. The main command post of the air defense system is located in an underground complex in Riyadh.

The air defense forces consist of anti-aircraft missile systems, anti-aircraft artillery, and parts of radio engineering troops. In operational subordination of air defense forces are air force fighters. ^[one]

Armaments: 17 long - range radar , 5 DRLO aircraft , 51 SAM missiles .

Strategic Missile Forces

Number: more than 1000 people.
About 40 Chinese medium-range ballistic missiles (2,000-2,800 km, with a warhead weighing up to 2 tons) "Dongfeng-3" (CSS-2), purchased from China in 1987, deployed first on the Al Sulayul base (built with Chinese specialists) ^[10] approximately 450 km south-west of the capital, then also at Al-Jufair base approximately 90 km south of the capital. In 2013, a third, well-fortified Al Watah base (after the name of the nearest settlement Al-Watah) ^[11] was found in satellite images in a mountainous area, about 200 km south-west of Riyadh. Some sources suggest that Saudi Arabia is considering the possibility of acquiring ballistic missiles from Pakistan and advanced Chinese ballistic missiles DF-21 ^{[12] [13]} .

Militarized formations

• The National Guard was originally created in opposition to the regular army as the most loyal pillar of the monarchical regime. In the early 1950s, it was called the “White Army”. For a long time, only NG forces had the right to deploy in the territory of the country's main oil provinces. It was recruited on the clan principle from the loyal dynasties of the tribes of the provinces of al-Najd and al-Hass. At the moment, the mujahiddin tribal militia has only 25 thousand people. Regular units number 75 thousand people and consist of 3 mechanized and 5 infantry brigades, as well as a ceremonial cavalry squadron. In service with artillery and infantry fighting vehicles, there are no tanks ^[14] .
• The Corps of the Border Guard (1050 people) in peacetime is under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior ^[14] .
• Coast Guard : number - 4,5 thousand people. It has 50 patrol boats, 350 motor boats, a royal yacht ^[14] .
• Security forces - 500 people ^[14] .

• Official website of the Ministry of Defense and Aviation of Saudi Arabia (are.)
• Official page of the National Guard of Saudi Arabia (are.)
• The official page of the Strategic Missile Forces of Saudi Arabia (the site opens only from Saudi Arabia) (are.)
• Official page of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Saudi Arabia {{ref-ar}
• Russian-language resource about Saudi Arabia - vk.com/saudianews