duotiga83 SG http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/09/17/216840/saudi-arabia-signs-uk-deal-for-72-eurofighter-typhoons.html DATE:17/09/07 SOURCE:Flightglobal.com Saudi Arabia signs UK deal for 72 Eurofighter Typhoons By Graham Warwick Saudi Arabia has signed an agreement with the UK government covering the supply 72 Eurofighter Typhoons, worth a reported $8.8 billion. The agreement marks the start of Project Salam, a new Saudi-UK defence cooperation programme that will include aircraft, training, support and development of Saudi industrial capabilities. The Typhoons will replace Panavia Tornado ADV air-defence fighters supplied to the Saudis under the Al Yamamah arms pact that dates back to 1985. BAE Systems welcomed the signing of the government-to-government agreement as an "important milestone" in its strategy to develop Saudi Arabia "as a key home market with substantial employment and investment in future in-Kingdom industrial capability". It is believed the first 24 Typhoons will be produced in the UK, with the first aircraft already in final assembly at BAE's Warton plant, while the remaining 48 will be assembled in Saudi Arabia. "Negotiations relating to the principal terms of the agreement have been successfully concluded and the signed agreement is expected to become effectiuve in due course," says BAE. The aircraft acquisition will be supported by "substantial logistical and training packages", says the UK Ministry of Defence, "including the opportunity for Royal Air Force and Royal Saudi Air Force aircrews and ground technicians to train alongside each other in the UK". Saudi Tornado IDS strike aircraft completed their first joint exercise in the UK early in September, operating alongside RAF Tornados from Lossiemouth in Scotland.
tankee1981 SG How good are the Saudi Airforce? They seem to be getting advanced and very expensive weapons from the West. But little is known about their standards.
spartan6 SG All i know is tat they have good equipments, F-15C, Tornado IDS, Tornado ADV, Hawk, E-3, AH-64A etc Their army has M1A2, M2A2, M109A6, MRLS etc They're rich, they can surely afford e trainning
Arapahoe SG i am sure they get training and joint exercise with US. Given the amount of money they have i am sure they bought every thing expensive and state of the arts.
LazerLordz SG If I were to choose between Tranche 2 Typhoons and F-15SGs with added Israeli modifications, I'd still go for the Eagle. Don't forget that the F-15SG is meant to replace the Skyhawk, which was basically a bomber/ground attack plane. Now the F-15SG, properly equipped and suitably modified over and above the F-15I spec, may prove to be a very potent long-range bomber with more than a decent A2A role built in. I'm not too sure how the Typhoon would fare as a deep-strike platform, although its BVR ability is damn good.
spartan6 SG Me 2 but i agree with LaserLordz, but wat i think e RSAF really need now is a capable BVR platform
CM06 SG Actually i would prefer the Typhoons replacing the F-16 Cs and the F-35 replacing the F-16 Ds. Reasoning is that the Cs are suppose to be the agile fighters and that's what the Typhoon is. The F-35 is supposedly a stealth medium load bombtruck vs F-15 heavy fighter bombtruck cause of the single engine. For F-5 replacement i would still say SAAB Gripen!!! Smaller cheaper but still reliable. Our F-5s are more of a local air space defense. With the advantage of SAMs , ECMs and your warning systems screaming every moment, trying to find a small gripen in the sky is going to be hell. Most probably will put a Meteor up your backhole before you know it. While diversifying our planes has good and bad points, if we get typhoon (beg beg) getting gripen (yes please) means they can share the same weapons Meteor, Stormshadow Asraam IRIS-T while JSF and the Eagle can share the US JDAM, JSOW, Amraam, Sidewinder X and *cough* non - us ones. Not to mention it will also help in our pilot training in going against more types of aircraft and different weapon types/performance.
zenden9 SG BAe use underhand method to win this deal one. Get women for those Saudi King and pay them handsome corruption money.. LOL.. Eurofighter becomes a joke!
chino65 SG Me too. Osama is Saudi and he's got tons of Saudi supporters. Apparently, there is huge dissent with the Saud Royal Family. They terrorise the population with brutal tactics like cutting off hands, beheadings, stone to death etc. I saw gruesome video once. But this is often not reported by western press whom are more interested to attack China for jailing Falungong etc. The Saud family is as bad as the Talibans. They make Iran look good. All a matter of which devil should you support.
Arapahoe SG i think at the end of the day the cost of buying and maintaining makes equally important decision with functionality. So never know until it is done deal.
duotiga83 SG the misconception foreuropean a/c is that they can only equip european weapon which is not true......they are NATO compatible thus there is no issue in regards to that......
CM06 SG Actually i do know that the weapons and weapon ssytems are rather interchangable. What i was trying to put across is that with addition weapons from different weapons platform will increase the disadavantage against an enemy aircraft. For example, an aircraft might be able to know (X radar emission belongs to to the targetting radar of say F-16s and can semi jam it) but it's unlikely that it will also have the same jamming capability on a european radar which uses a different band. Thus it will be less effective and can be shot down more easily. But yes, costs from operating multiple platforms can be a headache.
sgf SG Ideally I’ll like to see RSAF getting Typhoon, F15SG, Gripen & maybe F-35. But judging from the past, they don’t seem to like rojak & prefer sticking to 2 or 3 jets. In fact, the top I believe had once mentioned that RSAF may 1 day just fly 2 jets i.e. F-35 and F15SG.
chino65 SG I'm an airforce noob, coming from infantry. Can somebody explain to me the roles of the different aircrafts in RSAF and the numbers of each types? For example: - how many F5 do we have and what are their roles? - how many F16 do we have and what are their roles? - how many F15 will we get and what are their roles? Which will be the strike (ground attack) platform and which is the interceptor? Or are these terms outdated etc?
Marco_Simone SG Can you imagine if radical Islamists get hold of toys such as the Apache,Abrams and Eagle?
Shotgun SG The thing about the 3 platforms u named is that they are all quite capable of doing both. F-5s are reliable interceptors, as well as capable ground -attack aircraft. But not PGM capability. F-15 and 16s are top of their class interceptors and fighters, as well as capable of ground attack and Strike. The roles are not determined by aircraft type, but rather by squadron. Some squadrons train specifically for some roles.
