whats saudis firepower

what is saudis firepower in terms of air,sea and land?
i have scene topics about Iran,syria,israel and so forth
curious about them since they have access to some of the most advanced weapons (well most) Israel do in the USs arsenal and so forth

I got this from wikipedia, but don't let the numbers fool you, while israel spends less than Saudi Arabia that doesn't mean their military or weapons are less capable. A large portion of the USA's foreign assistance is donating weapons to Israel.

The Saudi Military, from what I observed when over there, was somewhat of a joke. Its the main reason they had to have foreign forces on their soil to protect them from an Iraq Invasion.

Alot of their stuff is U.S. technology that we sold to them. I know Raytheon has its own little task force over there with the Patriot Missile system to work out bugs and do major repairs.

But their military was not that great or that well trained. Almost no maintanence was done on equipment, and from the looks of those rusty old rifles they were carrying around, their weapons would blow them up before they got a round off.

Alot of the saudi military, as far as the lower ranks are concerned, are made up of foreigners, because alot of saudis find such "menial" positions to be beneath them.

On the other hand they have an absolutely huge military with lots of very capable systems. A VERY good source IMO: www.tau.ac.il...

Saudi Arabia has a particularly impressive air defence network with an incredible number of SAM batteries - Crotale/Shahine, Improved Hawk and Patriot. They also have Tornado F.3 Intercepters and F-15 Eagle air superiority fighters, and the crowning jewel; their air defense system is NETWORKED in REAL TIME to those of Egypt and UAE which means anything that Egypts (many) air defense radars can see, Saudi Arabia can see also.

In a conventional all-out war between Saudi Arabia and Israel, I'd give it about even odds. Saudi Arabia has more of everything but lesser training.

I don't think Saudi Arabia could beat Israel in a conventional war, the problem is though that if Saudi Arabia attacks Israel then so will Egypt and so will both Syria and Iran. I'm not sure Israel could Hold all of those forces off long enough for the US to do its thing.

Not to mention that if this happens Iran will probably attack the US straight up in Iraq leaving syria Egypt and Saudi Arabia to take on Israel. Needless to say this would be a bad thing.

I do think that as with the previous sale to saudi by the uk , the new one will also include ALOT of training - the tornado crews in teh Saudi airforce are the most higly trained.

Heavily funded by the British, Saudi Arabia is the biggest reciever in British arms exports...i think its about £20 billion worth.

saudi power is mostely made up from pre gulf war American power this includes F15s and Abraham tanks, saudis one time bought a AWCS aircraft from America but israeli spys sabotaged the aircraft and it crashed. Saudi then bought some Chines missiles IRMB.

They arn't really a country that thinks alot about defence, it relays on forign help.

Originally posted by Interseptor
saudis one time bought a AWCS aircraft from America but israeli spys sabotaged the aircraft and it crashed.

Evidence please.

Saudi Arabia has 7 AEW/AWACS aircraft:
5 x E-3A Sentry AWACS
1 x RE-3A Tactical surveilance/control aircraft
1 x RE-3B Tactical surveilance/control aircraft

Note that the latter two are in some respects similar to J-STAR/ASTOR in role/capability. They have phased array radars in the lower forward fuselage instead of the rotadome array above the rear fuselage of older E-3s.

Originally posted by JackJuice
I don't think Saudi Arabia could beat Israel in a conventional war, the problem is though that if Saudi Arabia attacks Israel then so will Egypt and so will both Syria and Iran. I'm not sure Israel could Hold all of those forces off long enough for the US to do its thing.

Not to mention that if this happens Iran will probably attack the US straight up in Iraq leaving syria Egypt and Saudi Arabia to take on Israel. Needless to say this would be a bad thing.

I am just trying to work how Saudi Arabia and Israel would fight a conventional war as they are not exactly geographically capable of such an action.

I think you can rule out Egypt and Syria would never go conventional. Syria prefers the use of proxy forces as is being well demonstrated in the latest crisis in the Lebanon.

Regards

Saudi Arabia is not going to enter into any conflict on behalf of Iran.

They would like to see nothing better than the Israelis and Iranians take each other out without SA having to fire a single round.

It always amazes me how oversimplified people's view of the Middle East is.
The Saudis and Iranians are not exactly pals, and probably never will be.

As for the Saudi military, they have some very good hardware, but I wonder what their training, readiness, and level of commitment is like. If Skadi's firsthand reports reflect anything like the current situation, they don't sound like a hugely proficient force.

Israel would be bale to defend itself against just about anyone. They have a very modern army as well as extremely well trained soldiers. Technology is on their side because the US is on their side and isn’t going anywhere. We wont fight for them because they will never ask us to, or pretty close to never, but we will supply them with what they need just as we are doing now.

SA, Jordan and Egypt have all recognized Israel as a country, do business and have made peace with them. They kicked the combine ass of all them plus Syria back in what, 78? 68? And they have only increased their power as the others have fallen in power. Syria would pose no challenge to Israel and they know it. Iran could pose a problem with missiles but would have great trouble getting much else over since they would have to go through Iraq or Turkey and we sure the hell wouldn’t let Iran drive weapons through Iraq.

All in all, no need to worry about SA getting a bug up its butt and doing anything.

Originally posted by bodrul
what is saudis firepower in terms of air,sea and land?
i have scene topics about Iran,syria,israel and so forth
curious about them since they have access to some of the most advanced weapons (well most) Israel do in the USs arsenal and so forth

When The King says: "We just ran out of oil."

Originally posted by nogirt
When The King says: "We just ran out of oil."

whats the relivence with the one line reply which makes no sense what so ever also im sure its against ATS rules

back to topic
what ships did saudi get from france?

Originally posted by bodrul
back to topic
what ships did saudi get from france?

They have some fine Sandown class minehunters from the Brits.

They have three Al Riyadh (F3000S) multi-purpose AAW frigates which are from France and based on the La Fayette frigate design. Four F2000 frigares again from France and a handful of corvettes supplied by the USA.

Some press reports I have read state France are in the runnig to supply up to 8 subs?

The navy helicopters are all French (Panthers and Cougars).

Feel free to correct or elaborate.

Regards

Originally posted by bodrul

Originally posted by nogirt
When The King says: "We just ran out of oil."

whats the relivence with the one line reply which makes no sense what so ever

also im sure its against ATS rules

back to topic
what ships did saudi get from france?

You have never heard of the US?

Originally posted by SenHeathen
They kicked the combine ass of all them plus Syria back in what, 78? 68? And they have only increased their power as the others have fallen in power. Syria would pose no challenge to Israel and they know it. Iran could pose a problem with missiles but would have great trouble getting much else over since they would have to go through Iraq or Turkey and we sure the hell wouldn’t let Iran drive weapons through Iraq.

ok you really need to read history - the Israelies attacked and nearly sank the USS Liberty at the start of the 6 day war , as the us had evidence that israel were slaughtering surrendered arabs (prisoners) in a scale that only hitler has done before.

Even US senators have said as much.


Also - erm Saudi Arabia wasn`t involved - only Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria using russian kit - nowadays they use Abrams tanks and would seriously hurt any Israel tanks - Egypt makes its own M1A2 tanks , and soon will have MORE than the US army!

www.army-technology.com...

"The M1A1/2 Abrams main battle tank is manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS). The first M1 tank was produced in 1978, the M1A1 in 1985 and the M1A2 in 1986. 3,273 M1 tanks were produced for the US Army. 4,796 M1A1 tanks were built for the US Army, 221 for the US Marines and 555 co-produced with Egypt. Egypt has ordered a further 200 M1A1 tanks with production to continue to 2005. 77 M1A2 tanks have been built for the US Army, 315 for Saudi Arabia and 218 for Kuwait. For the M1A2 Upgrade Program, over 600 M1 Abrams tanks are being upgraded to M1A2 configuration. Deliveries began in 1998.

In March 2004, the Australian Army announced the purchase of 59 US Army M1A1 tanks to enter service from 2007. The contract was signed in November 2005 and the first five were delivered in February 2006."

www.defense-aerospace.com...

"The Government of Egypt has requested a co-production program for the possible sale of 125 M1A1 Abrams tank kits each with Commander’s Independent Thermal Viewer, Firepower Enhancement Package and armor upgrades. Also included: 125 M256 Armament Systems, 125 M2 .50 caliber machine guns, 250 M204 7.62mm machine guns, spare and repair parts, special tool and test equipment, personnel training and equipment, publications, U.S. Government and contractor engineering and logistics personnel services, and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated cost is $920 million. "


From my reading and those 2 quotes above it seems that we are still far ahead of Egypt. And from my research and talking with a army warrant officer 4 that used to drive tanks and now flies Blackhawks, even he says that the Israeli tank is a close match to our Abrams, but training comes in key.

And I was wrong about S.A. being a part of the 6 day war, my deepest apologies for drawing of memory. I would also like to extent my deepest thanx for the assanine way you replied to my post, it was a great read and laugh. I dont claim to be a history buff or a military buff but I'm glad you seem to easer to fix my mistakes. Thanx again

Tanks are not THAT important, unless they do a fast attack, which is almost impossible if they attack Israël. Israël would use his entire air force to kills all the tanks. If they can protect their tanks, that would be something interesting.

But how will they protect them? With portable AA? No way. If they want to win against Israël, which they can't because Israël have the nukes, they need to bomb israëli airports with missiles when tanks are on their way and then launch full attack against Israëli tanks and infantry.

Anyone know how they would be able to protect their tanks against Israëli air force with what they have in stock?? From Egypt to Israël? Thanks.

Just for knowledge, I just hope they don't get at war ANOTHER time.


[edit on 4-8-2006 by Vitchilo]