Royal Air Force of Oman

Royal Air Force of Oman
Royal Air Force of Oman
Founded	March 1959
Country	Oman
Commanders
Commander of the RAFO	Air Vice-Marshal Yahya Rasheed Al-Juma

The Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) is the air arm of the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces

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 VC-10 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 2005 deliveries started of the F-16, the aircraft are 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 is in talks to buy up to 24 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from British group BAE Systems in a deal worth at least 1.4 billion pounds ($2 billion, 1.7 billion euros), the Financial Times is reporting in Nov. 13 edition.

The business daily, citing British defense sources close to the negotiations, said the Gulf state wanted to replace its 24 ageing Jaguar jets with Typhoons within the next four years.

The FT said the jets planned for Oman would come out of the 88 that Britain is committed to buying, and help secure billions of pounds of maintenance and support work for BAE.

Equipment

Template:Standard table ! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Aircraft ! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Origin ! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Type ! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Versions ! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|In service^[1] ! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Notes |----- | Agusta-Bell AB205A-1 | Italy |search and rescue helicopter | AB205A-1 | 21 | to be retired and replaced with NH90 and Lynx Mk 120 |----- | Agusta-Bell AB212 Twin Huey | Italy | helicopter | AB212 | 3 | |----- | AgustaWestland AW139 | Italy | helicopter | AW139 | 4 | 4 delivered of total ten. All for Royal Oman police aviation wing. |----- | Airbus A320CJ | France | transport | A320CJ | 2 | |----- | BAC One-Eleven | United Kingdom | transport | 485 | 1 | to be retired and replaced with A320s by the end of 2010. |----- | Dornier Do 228-100 | Germany | light transport | Do 228-100 | | |----- | Eurocopter AS 332 Super Puma | France | helicopter | AS 332C
AS 332L-1 | 3 |for Omani Royal Flight |----- | BAe Hawk 103 | United Kingdom | trainer | Hawk 103 | 4 | |----- | BAe Hawk 203 | United Kingdom | fighter | Hawk 203 | 11 | |----- | Bell 206B JetRanger | United States | helicopter | Bell 206 | 3 | |----- | Bell HH-1H Iroquois | United States | helicopter | HH-1H | 20 | |----- | Lockheed C-130 Hercules | United States | tactical transport | C-130H
C-130J-30 | 3
0 |one C-130J-30 to be delivered in mid-2012.^[2] |----- | Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon | United States | fighter | F-16C
F-16D | 12 | |----- | NHI NH90 | France | helicopter | | 20 | |----- | PAC Super MFI-17 Mushshak | Pakistan | trainer | | 7 | |----- | Pilatus PC-9M | Switzerland | trainer | PC-9M | 12 | |----- | SEPECAT Jaguar S/B | United Kingdom | ground attack | Jaguar S
Jaguar B | 2
16 | May be replaced by the Eurofighter Typhoon^[3]^[4]^[5] |----- | Super Falke | Germany | trainer | | 2 | |----- | Short SC.7 Skyvan 3M | United Kingdom | light Transport | Skyvan 3M | 12 | |- | Westland Lynx Mk 120 | United Kingdom | helicopter | Lynx Mk 120 | 15 | |---- |Total | | | | 224+ |---- |}