Army of Saudi Arabia: the military detachment of Wahhabism
Saudi monarchy has created a very powerful armed forces, but their fighting efficiency is questionable
Saudi Arabia is the most influential state not only of the Arab, but of the entire Islamic world, since Islam originated on its territory and it is here that the main Islamic shrines - Mecca and Medina are located. The influence of Saudi Arabia is greatly enhanced due to the presence of huge reserves of oil and gas and, consequently, huge financial resources.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where the official religion is the Wahhabi (Salafi) branch of Sunni Islam, which, along with the form of government (absolute monarchy), makes it the most totalitarian state in the world. At the same time, it is the main organizer and sponsor of all Islamic Sunni terrorism in the world. This does not prevent it from being considered the most important strategic ally of the West in general and the United States in particular. However, lately, ties between Riyadh and Beijing, which recently replaced Washington as the main buyer of Saudi oil, are rapidly becoming stronger.
Due to the presence of huge financial resources, Saudi Arabia has created a formally very powerful armed forces (VS), although their actual combat effectiveness raises certain doubts (the Arab mentality, the hired recruitment principle and the general high standard of living of the royal subjects do not contribute to the desire to fight). The Saudi armed forces have five types (completely copying the structure of the USSR Armed Forces - the Strategic Missile Forces, the ground forces, the Air Force, the Air Defense Force, the Navy), not counting the National Guard.
Strategic missile forces include three missile bases (Al-Watah, Al-Sulayyul, Al-Jufayr), located in the south-west of the country. They have 10 – 12 mine launchers (PU) of Chinese medium range ballistic missiles (MRSD) DF-3А (the total number of missiles can reach 120). The DF-3А’s flight range is approximately 2,8 thousands of kilometers, that is, they can reach the Russian North Caucasus and the Lower Volga region. Officially it is believed that these MRBD carry the usual warhead (warhead), but initially they were created under the nuclear warhead. Saudi Arabia could acquire nuclear warheads either in China itself or in Pakistan.
Tanks during the large-scale Saif al-Abdullah exercises of the Saudi army in Khafar al-Batin near the border with Kuwait, April 2014. Photo: Faisal Al Nasser / Reuters
The ground forces of the armed forces of Saudi Arabia are complemented by the National Guard, which, in fact, is the personal guard of the king and is formed from representatives of the tribes and clans most loyal to him. They include the 21 brigade: three armored brigades of the ground forces; nine mechanized - five brigades of ground forces, four - the National Guard; eight light infantry: three - ground troops, five - the National Guard; one airborne ground forces.
The base for the tank fleet is the American 340 M11 / 2 Abrams, there are also 514 old American M603 and 320 French AMX-30, most of which are in storage. To replace the outdated M60А3 and АМХ-30, 800 is supposed to be purchased the newest German "Leopard-2А7".
There are up to a thousand BMPs (up to 600 French AMX-10Р, 400 American МNNUMX), as well as more than 2 thousand BTR - 5 American М1650, 113 French МNNXX Panar, to 300 Egyptian Fahd (Fahd) (in the case), to FHD (in the case,), to keep on the line, I use the Fahd (FWHD), I used the Fahd, I am using the Fahd, I am using the Fahd X3, I’m using the Fahd X100, I’m using the Fahd 3, I’m using the Fahd X1117, I’m using the Fahd X25, I’m using the Fahd X1120, I’m using the Fahd X2, I’m using the Fahd X579, I’m using the Fahd X150 of the French NXX Panhar National Guard: American IFV-810 XNUMX, Swiss Piran-XNUMX XNUMX, American V-XNUMX XNUMX (still XNUMX in storage).
In service is more than 500 ACS - 90 of French AU-F-1 and 100 of the newest wheel Caesar, 280 of American М109А1 / 2, 54 of Chinese PLZ-45 (all - 155 mm). Towed implements - 100 American МNNUMX and 101 М140 (including 102 in the National Guard) (50 mm), 105 English FH-72, 70 American М50, 114 М120 (including 198 in the National Guard), and American NNXX (58 М155 (including 115 in the National Guard), including the American МNNXX, 203 М700 (including the 72 in the National Guardian) M2 (XNUMX mm) (in storage). There are also up to XNUMX mortars and Astros XNUMX XNUMX Brazilian MLRS.
Military air defense includes 1000 MANPADS (American Red I and Stinger 500) and 160 anti-aircraft guns.
Army aviation It includes 11 AN-64A Apache combat helicopters, 70 multi-purpose and transport helicopters (six French AS365N, 15 American Bell-406CS, 12 S-70A-1, 37 UH-60A / L).
Air Force organizationally divided into nine wing. Armed there 41 new European fighter "Typhoon» (27 F2, 14 combat training T3; just supposed to buy 72 "Typhoon»), 152 American fighter F15 (62 C, 20 combat-capable D, 69 S, one SA , there will be another 83 SA), 82 British percussion aircraft Tornado IDS. Remain in the Air Force from 15 to 120 old American fighter F-5 (from ten to 83 E, from five to 37 training and combat F).
Graduation ceremony for Saudi Air Force officers, January 2013. Photo: Fahad Shadeed
There are five US E-3A aircraft, 18 tankers (seven US-130H and KE-3A, four European A330MRTT, there will be two more), 68 transport aircraft, 118 training aircraft, 46 helicopters. A special kind of air force is the Royal Air Force, designed to carry members of the royal family. It includes 30 passenger aircraft and 11 helicopters.
Air defense is a separate from the air force type of the Saudi armed forces. It consists of six batteries of the American Patriot (96 PU), eight batteries of the American Advanced Hawk SAM (128 PU), near 600 short-range SAM (40 French Crotal and 141 Sahin, 400 American Avenger) ), 1000 MANPADS (500 American Red I, 500 French Mistral), 942 ZSU (92 American M163 (20 mm), 850 French AMX-30SA (30 mm)), 128 Swiss Anti-Zen-Air, 35 French AMX-XNUMXSA (XNUMX mm), XNUMX Swiss Anti-Zen-Air; .
The Navy has seven frigates of French construction (three types of Riyadh (Lafayette), four types of Madinah), four missile corvettes of the Badr type, nine missile boats of the Al-Siddik type, three British minesweepers of the type "Sandown".
Naval aviation incorporates 54 helicopters - 13 US Bell-406CS, six French AS365N, 15 AS565, 20 AS332F.
The Marines include two battalions, armed with 140 Spanish BMP-600P.
There are no foreign troops in Saudi Arabia.
The main potential adversary of Saudi Arabia is currently Iran, on the basis of which a very peculiar tacit alliance of the Wahhabi kingdom with the “Zionist entity”, that is, with Israel, emerged, where the hatred of Iran also reached a state of paranoia for a long time.
Frigate Lafayette. Photo: AFP / East News Archive
At the same time, Riyadh remains the main sponsor of the Syrian opposition, thanks to which Islamic radicals began to play a dominant role in it. However, in the spring of this year, Riyadh demanded that all his subjects fighting in Syria return home. Thus, the Saudis continue to "rake the rake." In 1980-s, they not only financed the struggle with the Soviet troops in Afghanistan, but also sent a significant number of their volunteers, who formed the basis of Al-Qaida. After returning home, these people began to fight with the Saudi authorities, whose way of life is very far from the puritan norms of Wahhabi Islam. Now the situation repeats. Of course, Riyadh continues to finance the fight against Assad, but wants to be overthrown by someone else. Additional problems for the kingdom may arise due to the "overflow" of the Syrian civil war in Iraq.
Likewise, it is precisely the Wahhabi evil empire that continues to stand behind the back of the Islamic militants in the Russian North Caucasus. In particular, in the course of both Chechen wars she was the main financier and supplier weapons for local militants. Now Arabian Wahhabism is beginning to penetrate actively into the Volga region, the Urals (into Tatarstan and Bashkiria) and into Western Siberia (especially into the “oil and gas” Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous districts). In this regard, Moscow’s domestic and foreign policy is surprising, to say the least. In particular, the fact that the Wahhabi form of Islam is still not banned in Russia and there is no ban on the activities of Islamic clerics who received education in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries has no explanation. There is either a completely blatant incompetence, or a direct betrayal.
The same can be said about Russian-Saudi relations proper, where there are Moscow’s inexplicable attempts to flirt with Riyadh and pretend that this is a normal country, and not a direct and open enemy. Just beyond "good and evil," there is a regular, serious discussion of the possibility of selling the latest weapon to a direct open enemy (for example, T-90С tanks and even C-400 SAMs!).
Finding intelligible explanations for this state of affairs is difficult. The most likely explanation, alas, is the simplest - the Saudis here are simply paying someone very well. In fact, it is well known that corruption is the main breeding ground for domestic terrorism. Perhaps not only grassroots.
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