Saudi Arabian National Guard

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Saudi Arabian National Guard
al-Ḥaras al-Waṭanī
الحرس الوطني
Founded 1917s - May 2013
Country Saudi Arabia
Allegiance Saudi Arabia
Branch Army
Type Land Force
Role Land warfare
Size 100,000
Part of King of Saudi Arabia
Garrison/HQ Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Nickname SANG, The White Army
Engagements PSF intervention in Bahrain
Battle honours Grand Mosque Seizure
Gulf War
Commanders
Commander Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah
Notable
commanders		 King Abdullah

The Saudi Arabian National Guard (Arabic: الحرس الوطني, al-Ḥaras al-Waṭanī‎) (SANG, also known as the White Army) was a separate military force of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The body was transformed into a ministerial establishment on 27 May 2013 and Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah was appointed the first minister of national guard ministry.

Contents

Organization and roles[edit]

The Saudi Arabian National Guard was not under the control of the Ministry of Defense, as its command structure and communication network were separate and it reported directly to the king. It serves both as defence force against external attack and as a security force against internal threats. Its duties included protecting the House of Saud, guarding against coups, protecting strategic facilities and resources, and protecting Mecca and Medina.

It was both a standing force with 100,000 men including a tribal militia of 25,000 troops. The SANG was the House of Saud's pretorian guard consisting of personnel drawn from tribes loyal to the King and royal family. It is always commanded by a high-ranking member of the royal family. The force was extensively reorganized and retrained by the Vinnell Corporation (using over a thousand U.S. Vietnam War veterans) in the 1980s and performed well in the Persian Gulf War/Operation Desert Storm especially in the Battle of Khafji.

The United States' supported the SANG, delivered both through private contractors and the U.S. Army's Office of the Program Manager Saudi Arabian National Guard Modernization Program.

Sandra Mackey, author of The Saudis: Inside the Desert Kingdom, stated that the National Guard was "an institution that ties the tribes to the House of Saud" because its members were recruited from Saudi tribes.[1]

History[edit]

The SANG was founded as the successor to the Ikhwan, the tribal army of King Abdulaziz. The Ikhwan had helped King Abdulaziz conquer the Arabian Peninsula and take it from Ottoman Turkey in World War I. However, the Ikhwan committed many excesses and atrocities not just on Turks but on other Arabs as well. The various tribal groups of the Ikhwan also had a tendency to go off and do their own things and thus needed to be brought under a more centralized control. The SANG was also known as the White Army during this time due to the wearing of traditional Arab dress instead of uniforms. In 1954, the office of Jihad and Mujahidin was transformed into modern National Guard.[2]

Training of the national guard became the responsibility of the Vinnell Corporation of the United States in 1975. About 1,000 United States Vietnam veterans were initially recruited to serve in the long-term training program designed to convert the guard into a mobile and hard-hitting counterinsurgency force that could also reinforce the regular army if necessary. These contractors were supervised by a United States military group with the designation Office of the Program Manager--Saudi Arabian National Guard (OPM-SANG).

Extensive military infrastructure facilities have been built to ensure the comfort and well-being of national guard units. Their major cantonments were in Al Ahsa Oasis near Al Hufuf and the major oil installations of the Eastern Province and at Al Qasim in Najd Province in an area where many of the tribal elements were recruited and most training was conducted. A large new housing project for guard personnel, with associated schools, shops, and mosques, has been constructed near Riyadh, also the site of the guard's military academy, the King Khalid Military College. Other national guard military cities were located at At Taif, Ad Dammam, and Jiddah. A new headquarters complex was built in Riyadh in the early 1980s.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, the regular army and the national guard were both small and of roughly equal strength. The guard suffered when the army's expansion was given priority, but in the 1970s the decline was reversed when the guard was converted to a light mechanized force with the help of United States advisers. Initially consisting of four combined arms battalions, the active-duty component had by 1992 been enlarged to two mechanized brigades, each with four infantry battalions, an artillery battalion, and engineering and signals companies. The guard's mobility over desert terrain was assured by 1,100 V150 Commando wheeled APCs. Firepower came from 105mm and 155mm towed howitzers, 106mm recoilless rifles, and TOW antitank missiles mounted on APCs (see table 16, Appendix).

The second component of the national guard, made up of tribal battalions under the command of local shaykhs, was organized into four infantry brigades. These men, often the sons of local chiefs or of veterans of the original Ikhwan forces, reported for duty about once a month for the purpose of receiving stipends. They were provided with obsolete rifles, although many had individually acquired Soviet AK-47 assault rifles. Although neither particularly well trained nor well equipped, they could be counted on to be loyal to the House of Saud if called for service. Their enrollment in the guard was largely a means to bolster the subsidies paid to local shaykhs and to retain the support of their tribes.

The national guard was swiftly deployed to the border area after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and was actively engaged in the war, notably in the fighting to retake the town of Ras al Khafji. After the war ended, it was reported that an enlargement of the national guard to eleven or twelve active brigades was contemplated. In addition, the Commando APCs were to be replaced by more than 1,000 eight-wheeled light armored vehicles (LAVs) manufactured by General Motors in Canada. The LAVs were to be mounted with a variety of armaments, such as 25mm guns, kinetic energy guns, and TOW missile launchers

Command[edit]

The Saudi Arabian National Guard's communications and chain of command maintained a separate network from regular Saudi Arabian military channels with a senior member of the royal family as its head. King Abdullah commanded SANG for three decades, from 1962 until 17 November 2010, when he appointed his son, Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah, as the new commander.[3] In addition, three of his sons hold high positions within the organization. SANG's Deputy Commander was Prince Badr until 2010, who was a senior member of the Al Saud. Its general headquarters, located in Riyadh, directly controlled the three regional sectors and the training facilities and the King Abdulaziz Independent Mechanized Brigade of four battalions.

The three regional (eastern, central, and western) sectors each command one or more mechanized or motorized brigades, several independent Security and Military Police and logistical battalions, but also the irregular fowj battalions.

Structure[edit]

The SANG was restructured with the help of the Vinnell Corporation into a light mechanized force equipped with over a thousand Cadillac Gage Commando armored fighting vehicles (being replaced with LAV‑25s). Its mobile force consisted of three mechanized brigades and five motorized infantry brigades. The militia portion consists of around 24 battalions of fowj, tribal warriors on "retainer".

The Eight Brigades were:

  • Imam Muhammad bin Saud Mechanized Brigade (IMBS)
  • Prince Saad Abdulrahman Mechanized Brigade (PSAR)
  • Turki Mechanized Brigade was reported to be in formation in 2002
  • King Khalid Light Infantry Brigade’s strength is unknown
  • King Abdulaziz Mechanized Brigade, was in information in 2002 still unknown
  • Prince Mohammad bin Abdulrahman al-Saud Light Infantry Brigade
  • One light infantry brigade based in Jeddah
  • One light infantry brigade based in Medina
  • Omar bin Kattab light infantry brigade based in Taif

The two original motorized brigades, IMBS and KAAB, had M‑102 howitzers (IMBS) and 155mm M‑198 howitzers, plus TOW anti-tank guided missile systems in the anti-tank platoons of the line motorized companies; two in each company in the IMBS and six in the KAAB. The two brigades each had a headquarters company, four-line motorized battalions, a field artillery battalion, a support battalion, and air defense, signals, and engineers companies.[4]

Riyadh Regional Headquarters controlled:

  • Imam Muhammad bin Saud Mechanized Brigade (IMBS), which controls four battalions (1st-4th) as well as the 1st SANG Artillery Battalion, and is based in Riyadh
  • Prince Saad Abdulrahman Mechanized Brigade (PSAR), which controls four combined-armed battalions, and is based in Riyadh
  • Turki Mechanized Brigade was reported to be in formation in 2002. As of 2006, it remains uncertain as to how developed this unit is
  • King Khalid Light Infantry Brigade’s strength is unknown
  • Ceremonial Cavalry Squadron
  • King Khalid Military College
  • Military Police battalion
  • Irregular Fowj tribal forces

Eastern Regional Headquarter, which is located in Dammam, controlled:

  • King Abdulaziz Mechanized Brigade (KAAB), was in information in 2002, but its strength and organization is still unknown. Stanton, writing in 1996, identified this brigade as the King Abdul Aziz Brigade, stationed in Hofuf south of Dammam. It comprised the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Combined Arms Battalions and the 2nd Artillery Battalion (155mm M‑198 towed howitzers.[4]
  • Prince Mohammad bin Abdulrahman al-Saud Light Infantry Brigade.
  • Irregular fowj tribal forces.

Western Regional Headquarter, which is located in Jeddah, controlled:

  • One light infantry brigade based in Jeddah
  • One light infantry brigade based in Medina
  • Omar bin Kattab light infantry brigade based in Taif

Independent Battalions:

  • In addition to the battalions under the control of the three regional headquarters, SANG has four independent light infantry battalions, which appear to be dedicated to protecting facilities and installations[5]
The Saudi Arabian National Guard Structure (click to enlarge).

Uniforms[edit]

When in modern uniforms personnel wore a red beret. Many soldiers wore for everyday use the American Desert Camouflage Uniform (DCU), used in Iraq and other desert regions throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions. Some units still wore the American Desert Battle Dress Uniform and a Saudi grey variation. National guardsmen ofter wore the traditional redcheckered Keffiyeh Arab headdress Tribal units often wore the Thawb with crossed bandoliers.

Equipment[edit]

A Saudi V-150 in 1991

The SANG was, by tradition, issued equipment not issued to the regular military, it did not possess any tanks but had several thousand wheeled armored fighting vehicles and Armoured personnel carriers. It possessed its own helicopters and light aircraft and all the remaining types of military hardware including artillery.

A $2.2 billion foreign military sale contract delivered 724 LAV‑II 8×8 wheeled armored personnel carriers in ten different varieties in 2001.

In December 2012, the Saudi National Guard ordered 68 French Multi-Purpose Combat Vehicle (MPCV) air-defense vehicles.[6]

Ranks[edit]

Saudi Ranks.PNG
Officers (up) Enlisted (down)

Officers[edit]

Enlisted[edit]

  • Private/Jundi (Arabic:جندي)
  • First Private/Jundi Awwal (Arabic:جندي أول)
  • Corporal/A'rif (Arabic:عريف)
  • Sergeant/Wakil Raqib (Arabic:وكيل رقيب)
  • Staff Sergeant/Raqib (Arabic:رقيب)
  • Master Sergeant/Raqib Awwal (Arabic:رقيب أول)
  • Sergeant Major/Ra'is Ruquba (Arabic:رئيس رقباء)

2013 reorganization[edit]

The SANG was transformed into a ministerial body on 27 May 2013.[7] Prince Mutaib, former commander of the SANG, became the minister of national guard on the same day.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Mackey, p. 207.
  2. ^ "History of the Saudi National Guard". Asharq Alawsat. 11 September 2006. Retrieved 5 April 2013. 
  3. ^ Saudi king transfers National Guard duties to son
  4. ^ a b Stanton, Lt Col Martin N. (March–April 1996), "The Saudi Arabian National Guard Motorized Brigades", Armor magazine: 6–11 
  5. ^ Saudi Arabian National Guard
  6. ^ Saudi Arabia National Guard ordered 68 MPCV air defense vehicles - Army Recognition, 26 December 2012
  7. ^ a b "King Abdullah transforms National Guard into ministry". Asharq Alawsat. 28 May 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2013. 

External links[edit]

Portal icon Saudi Arabia portal
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