Royal Air Force of Oman
Royal Air Force of Oman | |
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Founded | March 1959-present |
Country | Oman |
Commanders | |
Commander of the RAFO | Air Vice-Marshal Yahya Rasheed Al-Juma |
Insignia | |
Roundel | ![]() |
Fin Flash | ![]() |
Ensign | ![]() |
Aircraft flown | |
Fighter | Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon, SEPECAT Jaguar S/B |
Trainer | BAe Hawk 103, Pilatus PC-9M, PAC Super MFI-17 Mushshak |
Transport | Airbus A320CJ, Lockheed C-130 Hercules, Dornier Do 228-100 |
The Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) (Al-Quwwat al-Jawiyya al-Sultaniyya al-'Umaniyya) is the air arm of the Armed Forces of Oman
History
The Sultan of Oman's Air Force (SOAF) was formed with British personnel and aircraft in March 1959. The first aircraft were two Scottish Aviation Pioneers transferred from the Royal Air Force. The first armed aircraft was the Percival Provost T52.
In 1968 the SOAF received the first of 24 BAC Strikemaster jet trainer and light strike aircraft for operation against insurgents in the Dhofar region. In 1974 the SOAF was expanded with orders for the Britten Norman Defender, BAC One-Eleven, BAC VC10 and 32 Hawker Hunter ground attack aircraft. In 1977 Jaguar International joined the SOAF, followed in the 1980s by the BAe Hawk.
In 1990 the SOAF was renamed the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO). In 1993 and 1994 the RAFO replaced its Hawker hunters with four BAE Hawk Mk 103 lead in fighter-trainers and 12 single-seat Hawk Mk 203, equipped with Westinghouse APG-66H radar, as light ground attack/interceptors. In September 1997 after the evaluation of new combat aircraft the RAFO decided to upgrade and extend the service lives of its remaining 17 SEPECAT Jaguar ground attack fighters until the second decade of the 21st centuary. A contact was placed with the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence to upgrade the avionics of the Jaguar aircraft for $40 million. In 2005 deliveries started of the F-16, equipped with improved GPS/INS. The aircraft can carry a further batch of advanced missiles; the AGM-88 HARM missile, JDAM, JSOW and WCMD. Block 50 aircraft are powered by the F110-GE-129 while the Block 52 jets use the F100-PW-229.
Oman was considering the purchase of either Eurofighter Typhoon or JAS 39 Gripen aircraft,[1] however on 3 August 2010 the USA Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified the congress of a possible sale of 18 F-16 Block 50/52 to Oman in a contract worth 3.5 Billion USD. In addition to the new fighters, the contract included upgrading existing 12 F-16 C/D in the RAFO inventory.[2] On 14 December 2011 it was announced that Oman had agreed to buy an additional 12 F-16C/D Block 50s to join the 12 F-16s C/Ds already in service.[3]
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A Royal Air Force of Oman Jaguar intercepting an Il-38 in 1987.
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Lockheed Hercules at RIAT 2010
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Royal Omani Air Force Hawker Hunter at RAF Museum in Hendon
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Hawker Siddeley Hunter FR.10 at the RAF Museum in London. This aircraft formerly served as part of The Royal Air Force of Oman
Equipment
Aircraft | Origin | Type | Versions | In service[4] | Notes | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Agusta-Bell AB205A-1 | Italy | search and rescue helicopter | AB205A-1 | 21 | To be retired and replaced with NH90 and Lynx Mk 120. A total of 37 delivered and 3 on loan from Iran. | |||||
Agusta-Bell AB212 Twin Huey | Italy | helicopter | AB212 | 3 | ||||||
AgustaWestland AW139 | Italy | helicopter | AW139 | 4(6) | 10 purchased for Royal Oman Police aviation wing. | |||||
Airbus A320CJ | transport | A320CJ | 2 | |||||||
BAe Hawk 103 | UK | trainer | Hawk 103 | 4 | A total of 5 delivered, including 1 ex-Canadian. | |||||
BAe Hawk 203 | UK | fighter | Hawk 203 | 11 | 12 delivered | |||||
Bell 206B JetRanger | USA | helicopter | Bell 206 | 3 | 7 delivered. | |||||
Bell 214\214ST |
USA | utility helicopter |
11 (5 Bell 214 + 6 Bell 214ST) |
|||||||
Bell HH-1H Iroquois | USA | helicopter | HH-1H | 20 | ||||||
Dornier Do 228-100 | Germany | light transport | Do 228-100 | 2 | ||||||
Eurocopter AS 550 Fennec | helicopter | AS 550 | 3 | For Omani Royal Flight. | ||||||
Eurocopter EC 225 Super Puma | helicopter | EC 225 | 4 | Transferred to Air Force from Omani Royal Flight. | ||||||
Lockheed C-130 Hercules | USA | tactical transport | C-130H C-130J-30 |
3 0 |
One C-130J-30 to be delivered in mid-2012.[5] 2 more ordered in August 2010.[6] | |||||
Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon | USA | fighter | F-16C F-16D |
8(10) 4(2) |
December 2011 purchase of 12 additional F-16 Block 50[7] | |||||
NHI NH90 | helicopter | 20 | ||||||||
PAC Super MFI-17 Mushshak | Pakistan | trainer | 7 | 8 delivered. | ||||||
Pilatus PC-9M | Switzerland | trainer | PC-9M | 12 | ||||||
Scheibe Super-Falke | Germany | trainer | 2 | |||||||
SEPECAT Jaguar S/B | ground attack | Jaguar S Jaguar B |
2 16 |
A total of 27 SEPECAT Jaguar deliverd.[8][9][10] | ||||||
Short SC.7 Skyvan 3M | UK | light Transport | Skyvan 3M | 12 | ||||||
Westland Lynx Mk 120 | UK | helicopter | Lynx Mk 120 | 15 | - | Total | 224+ |
AAMs
- 70 MBDA R.550 Magic
- 550 AIM-9P\L Sidewinder
- 50 AIM-120 AMRAAM
- 310 AIM-9M Sidewinder
- 60 MBDA MICA-IR\RF
AGMs
- 20 AGM-84D
- 80 AGM-65D\G Maverick
Bombs
- BL-755
- GBU-31\38
- (84) JDAM (GBU-13\32)
- Paveway-II (150) (GBU-10\12\16)
- CBU-97 SFW350 (50)
Avionics\Pods
- 2 TARS
- 7 Sniper AN-AAQ-33
- AN-ALE-47
- AN-ALQ-211
- JHMCS Pilot helmet
- Topowl
- TWE
- 12 AN\APG-66 combat aircraft radars (forF-16C\D)
Target Drones
- 53 TTL BTT-3 Banshee
Radars
- AR-15
- 4x S-713 Martello 3-D
- 2x S-600
- 1x Watchman
Historical Aircraft
- 33 Hawker Hunter FGA.73\73A\73B, FR.10, T.66
- 4 Douglas C-47 Dakota
- 5 de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver
- 6 de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou
- 4 de Havilland Canada DHC-5D Buffalo
- 7 Vickers Viscount
- 9 Percival Provost Mk 52
- 4 Westland Wessex HC.2
- 25 BAC 167 Strikemaster Mk 82\82A
- 8 Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter - on loan from Iran
- 2 Pilatus PC-6 Porter
- 4 FFA AS-202 Bravo
- 4 Scottish Aviation Pioneer
- 8 Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander
- 3 BAe BAC-1-11
References
- ^ http://tacticalreport.com/view_news/Royal_Air_Force_of_Oman_JAS_39_Gripen_and_Eurofighter_Typhoon/1229
- ^ http://www.dsca.mil/PressReleases/36-b/2010/Oman_10-40.pdf
- ^ Hoyle, Craig. "Omani F-16 deal means continued wait for Eurofighter." Flight International via flightglobal.com, 14 December 2011. Retrieved: 18 December 2011.
- ^ Omani military aviation OrBat
- ^ "Sultanate of Oman |Acquires C-130J Super Hercules". Reuters, 5 June 2009
- ^ "The C-130J: New Hercules & Old Bottlenecks". Retrieved 2010-08-21.
- ^ http://www.defense.gov/contracts/contract.aspx?contractid=4684
- ^ Oman shows interest in Eurofighter Typhoon
- ^ Oman 'wants to buy' Eurofighter planes from the UK BBC, 2 April 2010
- ^ Oman edges closer to Typhoon deal, says UK Flightglobal, 9 April 2010
'World aircraft information files Brightstar publishing File 330 Sheet 1