I dont post here but read alot, my ipression is that this board has a ton of great information but also a sizabale amount of misinformation.One post in particular "got my dander up":the one about the RSAF paper tiger.Lets mith-bust shall we?:
(please excuse my spelling and grammer,English is a third language to me)
First of all regarding the lack of capable saudi air craft maintenace personnel,not only is this not true but it is ridiculas.My father is a mechanical engineer employed by Al-Salaam Aircraft Company, LTD.Here is a little info on this Saudi company:
Al Salam is a joint venture company established under the auspices of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Defense and Aviation Economic Offset Program. The company was established as a strategic resource for the Kingdom to provide self-sufficiency in the field of aircraft maintenance and modification through technology transfer and development of Saudi nationals. The Al Salam partners selected to implement this strategic resource are as follows:
Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) 25%
Saudi Advanced Industries Company (SAIC) 10%
Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) 10%
National Industrialization Company (NIC) 5%
Boeing Industrial Technology Group (BITG) 50%
Al Salam AirCraft Co. Ltd. is a Saudi partnership established in 1988 with an initial capital investment of $45 million. The partners include BOEING (50%), SAUDIA (25%), SAIC (10%), Gulf Investment (10%) and NIC (5%).
The company established a core capability that enables it to perform heavy maintenance and modification on both military and civil aircraft. On the civil side, Al Salam has been performing various types of maintenance tasks including D-Checks. On the military side, it can perform any maintenance work up to and including Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM). These activities are supported by fully equipped backshops and Non-Destructive Testing laboratory along with an advance MIS system in State-of-the-art facilities.
*********Company capabilities have been validated by FAA and PCA certification********, approved as a military contractor and as a subcontractor to major UK Aerospace company and major USA aircrfat company. Since 1993, Al Salam performed D-Checks and modification on L1011, B747, B737, B707 and BELL 406 Helicopter.Not to mension the maintinance of the F-15's and other military aircraft.
The employees of this company have been trained well and are expirienced.recentely a program initiated by the Saudi Defence Ministry labelled "Al Yammamah" was completed sucessfully.17 F-15 jets were completely dis-assembeled and then re-assembeled by three 100% Saudi teams!! The results were perfect.In fact one of the American ex-pats commented that if the parts were available the three teams in question would be able to build f-15's in our facilities.
Another program,which i will not go into detail about, will deal with upgrading the f-5's provided that the ALY deal goes through.
Now about the RSAF it self,not only do we have a beautiful combination of American and British equipment but our pilots have shown they know how to use it.Iraqi and Iranian planes have been shot down time and again by the Saud Eagles.In fact the ONLY double kill in the second gulf war was by a Saudi Pilot who shot down two Iraqi jets as well as striking a ground anti-air target.
I have over 50 hours of Saudi military
aviation on tape,if i ever convert it to a PC friendly format i will be sure to post it here.The Green Knights are the demo team(they fly Hawks) and i have colected most of theyr taped shows.If the site owner would host these clips i would provide them.
About the coruption in the hose of Saud,that is one point that I cannot argue with.and yes there are favors being handed out.but to say that test answers are handed out and pilots are being handed multi million jets just because of a last name is truely funny.
As for the naval and ground forces,I have no personal knowledge about the naval forces other than what i have heard hear and there,so i cannot contest the original posters "hard facts".The ground forces however are extremely caotic and incapable as far as the main army goes.However the speacial strike forces are another matter completely,but thats another post for another day.
Finally to conlcude i would like to say that i am not trying to make out the RSAF as the mightiest fighting force this side of the pond,we do have a long way to go to achive a totally dependant AF.but the misconceptions here needed corecting.
Oh yeah one more thing, about the reply about ARAMCO Saudi employees not knowing "how to turn the valves".that was truely funny,my brother is a VP of ARAMCO,and I am currentely in thyr training program.Not only do the Americans have nothing to do with the oil rigs but the are also confined to "paper duty".the only reason they exist is the US pressure.if the Americans were to leave tomorow,nothing would change.And about the Shia being the only |