Posted on 11/02/2010 11:54:57 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
As expected, Saudi Arabia finally made it official that it is buying 84 U.S. F-15Es. These are special versions of the two-seater F-15E. But what was really interesting was the list of accessories ordered along with the aircraft. These included; 100 M61 Vulcan multi-barrel 20mm cannons, 193 LANTIRN 3rd Generation Navigation Pods, 338 Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems (JHMCS), 462 AN/AVS-9 Night Vision Goggles (NVGS), 300 AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air Missiles, 500 AIM-120C/7 AMRAAM radar guided air-to-air missiles, 5,400 smart bombs (GPS and laser guided, 227-909 kg), 400 AGM-84 Block II Harpoon anti-ship missiles, 600 AGM-88B HARM anti-radar missiles, 158 AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Targeting pods, ten DB-110 Reconnaissance Pods, 462 Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System Helmets. There some other stuff, plus spare engines, technical services and training. Saudi Arabia already has 70 F-15E from the 1990s. These will be upgraded to the F-15SA standard. Israel protested selling the Saudis such advanced bomber technology, but the U.S. worked this out via secret discussions
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
Iranian
I was going to say, that all the sophisticated aircraft in the world are useless unless you have the right pilots who can fly and fight with them in the air.
These are just toys for rich princes. Up the thread is right, any real fighting will be done by Pakistani or Russian mercenaries.
... and the right maintainers. It’s a nightmare of electronics maintenance that they are “buying”... but you cannot fly these days with cheap stuff.
“Presumably they’ll also be buying 84 Pakistani pilots to fly them, since Saudi Arabia reportedly doesn’t have enough qualified fighter pilots.”
That is part of the package deal. Boeing is establishing a pilot training school.
Well, assuming the Saudis actually had the guts to use them, yes. The Iranians lost out on the Sov, er, Russian S-300, but the Chicoms stepped in to sell them an advanced air defense system, the HQ-9 (http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-HQ-9-FD-FT-2000.html).
So, if there is a tussle with Iran, yes, they need HARMs.
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