| Commander of the Royal Air Force | |
|---|---|
 R.S. Air Forces | |
| Style | His Excellency |
| Member of | General Staff Presidency Higher Officers Committee |
| Reports to | Chairman of General Staff |
| Term length | No fixed length |
| Website | Official website |
The Commander of Royal Air Force, is the top most authority in the Royal Saudi Air Force.
| No. | Portrait | Commander | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lieutenant General Asaad Abdelaziz al-Zuhair (1929–?) | 1972 | 1 January 1980 | 7–8 years | [1] [2] | |
| 2 | Lieutenant General Mohammed Sabri Suleiman | 1 January 1980 | 1984 | 3–4 years | [1] | |
| 3 | Lieutenant General Abdullah bin AbdulAziz al-Hamdan | 1984 | 1987 | 2–3 years | [1] | |
| 4 | Lieutenant General Ahmed Ibrahim Behery | 1987 | March 1996 | 8–9 years | [1] | |
| 5 | Lieutenant General Abdul Aziz bin Mohammad al-Henadi | March 1996 | 4 April 2004 | 8 years | [1] | |
| 6 | Lieutenant General Prince Abdulrahman al-Faisal | 4 April 2004 | 16 June 2010 | 6 years | [1] [3] | |
| 7 | Lieutenant General Mohammed Al-Ayesh | 16 June 2010 | 10 May 2013 | 2 years | [1] [4] | |
| 8 | Lieutenant General Fayyadh Al Ruwaili (born 1958) | 10 May 2013 | 14 May 2014 | 1 years | [1] [4] [5] | |
| 9 | Lieutenant General Muhammad Al Shaalan (?–2015) | 14 May 2014 | 10 June 2015 † | 1 years | [1] [6] | |
| 10 | Major General Mohammed al-Otaibi | 10 June 2015 | 26 February 2018 | 2 years | [1] [7] [8] [9] | |
| 11 | Lieutenant General Prince Turki bin Bandar | 26 February 2018 | Incumbent | 6 years | [1] [9] [10] |
The Saudi Arabian Armed Forces (SAAF), also known as the Royal Saudi Armed Forces, is part of the military forces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It consists of the Royal Saudi Army, the Royal Saudi Navy, the Royal Saudi Air Force, the Royal Saudi Air Defense, and the Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force. The King of Saudi Arabia is the Supreme commander-in-chief of all the Military Forces and forms military policy with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior. The five Armed Forces are among eight military forces of Saudi Arabia, with the others including the Royal Saudi National Guard, the Royal Saudi Guard Regiment and the Royal Saudi Border Guards.
The McDonnell DouglasF-15E Strike Eagle is an American all-weather multirole strike fighter derived from the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The F-15E was designed in the 1980s for long-range, high-speed interdiction without relying on escort or electronic-warfare aircraft. United States Air Force (USAF) F-15E Strike Eagles can be generally distinguished from other US Eagle variants by darker aircraft camouflage, conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) mounted along the engine intake ramps and a tandem-seat cockpit.
The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) is the aviation branch of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces.
King Abdulaziz Air Base, also known as Dhahran Air Base and formerly Dhahran International Airport, Dhahran Airport and Dhahran Airfield, is a Royal Saudi Air Force base located in Dhahran in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Located west of Thuqbah and 7 km (4 mi) southeast of the Saudi Aramco Dhahran Camp, the airbase was the first Saudi Arabian airport to be constructed, in 1961, and is under the command of Air vice-marshal Prince Turki bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
The Royal Saudi Navy or Royal Saudi Naval Forces, is the maritime arm of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces and one of the five service branches of the Ministry of Defense of Saudi Arabia. Its primary role is monitoring and defending the Saudi territorial waters against military or economic intrusion, and participating in international naval alliances.
Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB) is a military air base located in the closed-city of Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was the tenth son of King Abdulaziz. At the time of his death, he was the eldest surviving member of the Saudi ruling family.
The Saudi Arabian Air Defense Forces or officially Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces (RSADF) is the aerial defense service branch of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces. It is fourth of the five service branches of the MOD. It has its HQ in Riyadh, where there is also an elaborate underground command facility that co-ordinates the Arabian Kingdom's advanced "Peace Shield" radar and air defense system, with an estimated 40,000 active duty military personnel in 2015. Along with the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF), it has responsibility for securing the skies of Saudi Arabia.
King Khalid Air Base (Arabic: قاعدة الملك خالد الجوية) (KKAB) is an airbase of Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) sited in the south-west of Saudi Arabia, near Khamis Mushait.
King Fahad Air Base (Arabic: قاعدة الملك فهد الجوية) (ICAO: OETF)(KFAB) is a Royal Saudi Air Force military base located in Taif, Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia.
The Ministry of Defense is a Ministry in Saudi Arabia that is responsible for the protection of national security, interests and sovereignty of the country from external threats as well as the working with all ministries of the state to achieve national security and stability. The current minister of defense is Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud, who was appointed on 27 September 2022. The Ministry includes the five service branches of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces: The Royal Saudi Land Force, The Royal Saudi Air Force, The Royal Saudi Naval Force, The Royal Saudi Air Defense Force and the Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force.
Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud is a Saudi Arabian soldier and member of the House of Saud, who served as the president of General Intelligence, the deputy defense minister and the governor of the Riyadh Province. Prince Khalid is the grandson of Ibn Saud and was the first of his grandsons to serve as the governor of the Riyadh Province.
The Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force is the fifth branch of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces, responsible for commissioning long-range strategic missiles. The RSSMF formerly had its headquarters in an underground command facility in Riyadh– the capital of Saudi Arabia.
Muhammad bin Ahmed Al Shaalan was a Saudi military officer and commander of the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) from 2014 up until his death in Saudi Arabia. Al Shaalan was initially reported to have died from a heart attack outside the country by the Ministry of Defense, during the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war. In early June 2015, several Scud missiles were fired by the Houthis from Yemen and hit King Khalid Air Base, which serves as the center of the Saudi air campaign against them; he was killed in the missile attack. Al Shaalan was from a tribal family that spans Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and southern Iraq.
Fahd bin Abdullah Al Saud is a member of Al Kabir family, a cadet branch of House of Saud.
Fayyadh bin Hamed bin Raqed Al Ruwaili is a Saudi Arabian pilot and general who has served as the commander of the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) on two occasions, most recently since a shakeup of the military high command on 26 February 2018 by King Salman. Before that he served as the commander of the RSAF from 10 May 2013 until 14 May 2014. In between that, from 2014 until his new re-appointment in 2018 as RSAF commander, time he served as the deputy chief of the Saudi general staff. Al Ruwaili hails from a merchant family near the Red Sea.
The Hejaz Air Force or Hejaz Flying Corps was the aerial component of the armed forces of the short-lived Kingdom of Hejaz and its successor the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd. Claiming to be the oldest Air Force on the Arabian Peninsula, the service was a very small entity, numbering at most nine aircraft at any time. It operated intermittently between 1921 and 1932, battling with staff shortages and aircraft availability; often only two aircraft were operational at any time. The personnel came from many nations, with pilots coming from Germany, Greece, Italy, Russia and the United Kingdom, as well as from the kingdom itself after the flight of the first Arab pilot, Abdul Salam Sarhan, in 1923. It provided aerial reconnaissance and bombardment to support the army against the much larger land forces of Ibn Saud during the Hejaz-Nejd War, including bombing attacks on Jeddah and Mecca. Its successor is the Royal Saudi Air Force.
King Saud Air Base is a military air base located in Hafr Al-Batin, Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi Arabian Military Forces (SAMF) is the umbrella term for all the military forces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Although militarized in nature, each is independent of the other in that they fall under the control of different ministries and/or chain of command. They include: the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Arabian National Guard, the Saudi Arabian Border Guard, the Saudi Arabian Royal Guard, the Special Operations Forces, and the Special Security Unit.
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