Saudi Arabian Army
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| Saudi Arabian Army
الجيش العربي السعودي |
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| Military manpower | |
| Conscription age | 18 years of age |
| Availability | males age 18-49: 7,648,999 |
| Active troops | 200,000 (Ranked 25th) |
| Military expenditures | |
| USD figure | $31.255 billion (2006) |
Saudi Arabian Army (Arabic: الجيش العربي السعودي) ,Also called Royal Saudi Land Force (Arabic: القوات البرية الملكية السعودية). Is a branch of the Saudi Armed Forces. The total number of active troops is around 200,000. The Army is capable to conduct air assault operations with a lift capability of up to 5 battalions at a time, both day and night.
The current Chief of the Saudi General Staff is Field Marshall Saleh Al-Muhaya.
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[edit] History
1902 is considered to be the birth year of the Saudi Army, when 63 men led by King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud supported by the Kuwaiti Prince Mubarak Al-Sabah, who had armed the men with weapons and horses, conquered the city of Riyadh. During World War I, the British supported King Abdulaziz's army in his fight against the Ottoman Empires Army. Britain remained the major ally of the Saudis until the Saudi conquest of the Hejaz region in 1935. After the discovery of oil and the meeting between King Ibn Saud and the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 14th, 1945, the Americans became the new major ally of House of Saud.
Other events that led to an expansion of the Saudi Army were the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948, the fall of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the subsequent fears of possible Shia's actions and in the last years the first Gulf War in 1990. In the year 2000, Saudi Arabia's government spent billions of dollars to expand the Saudi Forces including the Saudi Army.
Wars involving Saudi Army:
- The Unification of Saudi Arabia (1902-1933)
- 1948 Arab-Israeli War (Saudi Forces fought with the Egyptian Army in 1948; In 1973 during the Yom Kippur War Saudi Arabia leaded the Oil Crisis and sent over 3000 Saudi soldiers to fight on the Syrian frontline)
- Gulf War (1990-1991) Togehter with the allied forces, Saudi units took a major part in the Battle of Khafji and the Liberation of Kuwait.
[edit] Structure
The Royal Saudi Land Forces consist of eight principal combat brigades:[1]
Armor
- 4th (King Fah’d) Armored Brigade
- 8th Armored Brigade
- 12th Armored Brigade
Three armored brigades consists of three tank battalions, a mechanized infantry battalion, and a support battalion.
A typical Saudi armored brigade has an armored reconnaissance company, three tank battalions with 42 tanks each, two tank companies with a total of 30 tanks, three tank troops with a total of 12 tanks, a mechanized infantry battalion with 54 AIFVs/ APCs, and an artillery battalion with 18 self-propelled guns. It also has an army aviation company, an engineer company, a logistic battalion, a field workshop, and a medical company.[2]
Mechanized
- 6th Mechanized Brigade
- 8th Mechanized Brigade
- 10th Mechanized Brigade
- 11th Mechanized Brigade
- 20th Mechanized Brigade
Five mechanized brigades consists of one tank battalion, three mechanized infantry battalions, an artillery battalion, and a support battalion.
A typical Saudi mechanized brigade has an armored reconnaissance company, one tank battalion with 37-42, three mechanized infantry battalion with 54 AIFVs/APCs each, two infantry companies with a total of 33 APCs, three infantry platoons with a total of 12 APCs, and an artillery battalion with 18 self-propelled guns. It also has an army aviation company, an engineer company, a logistic battalion, a field workshop, and a medical company. It has 24 anti-tank guided weapons launchers and four mortar sections with a total of eight 81mm mortars.[3]
Infantry
- unknown number of infantry brigades
- 2nd Motorized Infantry Brigade
- 5th Combined Arms Battalion
- 6th Combined Arms Battalion
- 7th Combined Arms Battalion
- 8th Combined Arms Battalion
- 10th Infantry Brigade
- 2nd Motorized Infantry Brigade
Each infantry brigade consists of three motorized battalions, an artillery battalion, and a support battalion.
Airborne
- The Airborne Brigade
- 4th Airborne Battalion
- 5th Airborne Battalion
The airborne brigade consists of two paratroop battalions and three special forces companies. The SF companies report to the King.
Artillery Battalions
- five artillery battalions
The separate Royal Guard Regiment consists of three light infantry battalions.
[edit] Ranks
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the Mushir "First Class Field Marshal" insignia (last) , usually held by saudi Royal Family Generals.
[edit] Main equipment
The Saudi government spends billions of dollars to arm the military forces and usually buys the military equipment from the main allies US and UK.
| Saudi Army | |
| Main battle tanks | |
| 315 | M1A2 Abrams[1] |
| 58 | M1A1 Abrams[2] |
| Al-Zarar MBT[citation needed] | |
| 290 | AMX-30 |
| M60A1/A3 Patton [3] | |
| Recons and Inf. Transporters | |
| 600 + (250 for N.G.) | HMMWV (Humvee) |
| 350 | Al-Fahd (Saudi industry) |
| 1750 | M113 Armored Personnel Carrier |
| AMX-10P [4] | |
| AMX/HOT [5] | |
| M2A2 Bradley [6] | |
| Panhard AML-60 Armoured Car [7] | |
| Panhard AML-90 Armoured Car [8] | |
| EE-11 Urutu [9] | |
| Panhard M3 VTT APC [10] | |
| Cadillac Gage Commando [11] [12] | |
| Unmanned aerial vehicles | |
| SAGEM Sperwer | |
| Anti-tank missiles | |
| Baktar-Shikan | |
| Brimstone missile | |
| Swingfire | |
| FGM-148 Javelin | |
| BGM-71 TOW | |
| Rocket artillery | |
| M270 MLRS | |
| Astros II MLRS[13] | |
| howitzers & Artillery | |
| M198 howitzer [14] | |
| AMX-13 | |
| FH-70 | |
| M102 howitzer [15] | |
| M109A2 [16] | |
| AMX-GCT [17] | |
| Mortars | |
| M224 Mortar | |
| Brandt 60mm LR Gun-mortar | |
| M30 107 mm Mortar [18] | |
| Automatic grenade launchers | |
| M203 grenade launcher | |
| XM320 | |
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This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
- (Anti-Air systems belong to Air Defense Forse)
[edit] Source
- CIA World Factbook
- Pakistani tanks deal
- 2006 Military spending of Saudi Forces
- latest French tanks deal
