Exercise Saudi Green Flag '07
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In August 2007 the Royal Saudi Air Force deployed to RAF Lossiemouth on the Moray Firth in Scotland to participate in the second part of a joint exercise with 617 squadron of the Royal Air Force, who had deployed to Saudi Arabia the previous year to take part in Exercise Loan Frame.
Eight Tornado IDS's deployed from 75 Squadron based at King Abdullah Aziz Air Base near Dhahran, with the first wave of aircraft arriving on 22nd August. They had stopped overnight at Trapani Air Base in Sicily and had made a fuel stop at RAF Marham in Norfolk on the journey over, supported by two RSAF C-130H Hercules transports. The previous week RSAF Boeing KE-3's had been seen at Lossiemouth bringing in support equipment and personel, 1818 arriving on the 14th and 1813 on the 15th. 1812 later arrived on the 22nd and was present throughout. The Saudi deployment saw over 200 personel at Lossiemouth under the command of Colonel Abdulaziz Al-Qdairi.
The first Tornados to arrive were 760, 7506, 704 and 7509, using call signs RSF 313A, B, C & D. They arrived in appalling weather conditions at RAF Marham at approximately 13.30 hrs on 22nd August for their scheduled fuel stop, followed by C-130 Hercules 1624 from 16 Squadron. The next wave consisted of 7505 and 7513, which arrived at 14.15 hrs using the call signs RSF 314C & D respectively. The six aircraft departed later that day to arrive at Lossiemouth in the evening, where they were greeted with more familiar sunny skies.
704 arrives at RAF Lossiemouth on 22nd August 2007
760 arrives at Lossiemouth using callsign RSF 313A
Support was provided by 16 Squadron Hercules 1624 on the outward journey to the U.K
Unfortunately the other two aircraft, 7504 and 703 were delayed in Sicily due to technical problems, but arrived at Marham the following afternoon, where they night stopped before making the short hop to Lossiemouth on the 24th. This was the first overseas deployment of RSAF aircraft that had been conducted without any assistance from other sources and was a very welcome sight for enthusiasts in the UK as well as the large numbers who visited from abroad to see these rare aircraft. Other aircraft known to have taken part in the deployment were C-130 Hercules 1622 and 1623 along with KE-3A 1812, which was present for most of the exercise period held between 28th August and 7th September.
Assumed to have some involvement with Green Flag were the Saudi Air Force Boeing E-3's of 18 Squadron. During the course of the exercise a number of them were seen in the U.K, this one being 1804 noted at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk.
During their time in Scotland over 65 sorties were flown, utilising the electronic warfare facilities at Spadeadam and in the second week they were joined by Bae Typhoon F.2's flown by 3 Squadron crews as well as Tornado F.3's flying from Leuchars. The Saudi Tornados finally departed for home on Monday 10th September, taking the same route back via a fuel stop at RAF Marham and Sicily. Support this time was provided by Lockheed C-130H-30 1622, which arrived at RAF Marham around 8.30 in the morning.
Officer Commanding 617 Squadron, Wing Commander 'Rocky' Rochelle, explained the significance of this latest exchange: "This is the first time the RAF has hosted the RSAF Tornado Interdictor Strike aircraft," he said. 'It has been a great privilege hosting them and we have really enjoyed flying with them on the various different exercise missions. Both sides have learned a great deal from the experience.'
In addition to gaining access to the UK Low Flying areas the Saudi jets were able to make use of the Tain and the Wiley Sike Air Weapon Ranges as well as the Electronic Warfare Tactical Range at Spadeadam. Group Captain John Fynes, the RAF officer in charge of the exercise, said: 'This is a good opportunity to exchange ideas and gain experience operating with another nation and to reinforce the excellent service to service relationship we have with the Saudi Arabian Armed forces and to further strengthen our defence relationship with them.'
703 was the first aircraft to arrive back at Marham on the homeward leg using the call sign RSF 313A
7504 at RAF Marham of 10th September
7506 makes it safely back to Marham on it's long journey home.
It returned to Marham in the second wave of aircraft on 10th September
7504 arrived in the third wave to return home and caused quite a stir when its main undercarriage failed to drop at
the first time of asking. Fortunately it decided to come down at the second attempt and the aircraft landed safely.
Saudi Tornado IDS's are about to undergo the Tornado Sustainment Programme (TSP) with British Aerospace Systems. Initially delivered from 1986 BAE entered a prototype phase for the TSP with three aircraft (Two IDS and one IDS(T) trainer). Serial upgrades for the remainder of the fleet will conducted by the Alsalam Aircraft Company in Riyadh. Upgrades are expected to closely follow the RAF Tornado GR.4 and covers 84 aircraft. GPS, cockpit display and radio upgrades along with Storm Shadow, Brimstone and the Thales Damocles targeting pod capability complete the process.
'All the aircraft on the exercise are TSP stage one modified, and stage two will come soon' said Lt Col Abdulaziz Al Qdairi. 'Initial enhancements to the aircraft have focused on cockpit modernisation, such as the addition of GPS navigation, changes to some displays and switches and the introduction of a new radio architecture. TSP is upgrading the aircraft so that it will be capable of carrying any advanced weapons available not only Brimstone and Storm Shadow', he added. 'We hope we will have such as these to make sure our air force has the latest weapons and technology. The goal is to reach the stage that the RAF is currently using with its GR4s.'