Saudi Arabia commits to Eurofighter Typhoon deal
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Re: Saudi Arabia commits to Eurofighter Typhoon deal
Hmmm, quick search, Gulf War, day one.
"RSAF No 7 Squadron with GR1 Tornado, Commanded by LtCol Saeed - Saudi Flak-Suppression flight went 15 minutes ahead of a UK package attacking an Iraqi Airfield Complex with 3 parallel runways. LtCol Sultan, a former F-15 pilot and 1st 1000 hr Tornado pilot, pressed on alone from a flight of three after the others missed tankers."
"RSAF No 7 Squadron with GR1 Tornado, Commanded by LtCol Saeed - Saudi Flak-Suppression flight went 15 minutes ahead of a UK package attacking an Iraqi Airfield Complex with 3 parallel runways. LtCol Sultan, a former F-15 pilot and 1st 1000 hr Tornado pilot, pressed on alone from a flight of three after the others missed tankers."
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Re: Saudi Arabia commits to Eurofighter Typhoon deal
So, from a survey of, erm, one we can estimate that the percentage of Floppies that can find a tanker is around 33.3%, providing that they have over 1000hrs on type.
Great.
Great.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Re: Saudi Arabia commits to Eurofighter Typhoon deal
As opposed to the Italians who launched 8, of which only one managed to take fuel and press to the target - and was shot down. From which you would infer that?....... 
Yes, Him
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Re: Saudi Arabia commits to Eurofighter Typhoon deal
This is from a USAF F-15 chap on secondment to the RSAF:
Okay, here's a Saudi story from a guy who is currently flying with them, got it a couple weeks ago -
----------------
On the flying front, Saudi S-model crew has UTL A failure, decides to take cable. Lands well past cable (about the same distance as Seymour’s). Decides to stay on runway and take departure end. Never uses any braking (aero/emer/nothing) and takes dep end at nearly 120 knots. Drags it nearly past the overrun. Not a word spoken in jet for last 5 minutes of flight.
Saudi demonstration team lines up for 8-ship deployment (2+2+2+2 departure :15 second spacing). 1st two ship, uneventful. 2nd two ship, one gets airborne, one has problem, does way high speed abort, then punches out at end of runway. 3rd two ship decides 15 seconds is way too much and does about a 5 second spacing departure and high speed aborts behind wreckage (one more ejection apparently for mutual support). Last two ship again decides spacing too much and does high speed abort through wreckage. Remaining airborne 3 ship decides now to *land back on the single runway* to see how the bros are doing. FOD all quads. Demo team now grounded.
C-model starts/taxies/makes it through arming, with door 3R still propped open. Wingman finally notices while lining up for form T/O.
I finally got to fly last month. Second sortie (no-**** Blue vs Blue where the goal apparently is to keep aborting until Bingo) I say f**k this and press to merge. End up gunning the King’s son. In debrief he said my shot was not valid. I asked if he saw the tape. He says “No, but didn’t you here my terminate for gas call a minute earlier?” to which I replied “well, why were you still putting out flares then?”. He’s not happy with me.
------
Full thread (and some other interesting USAF stuff) is at:
http://www.dynamictruth.com/ubb/ulti.../t/003869.html
Okay, here's a Saudi story from a guy who is currently flying with them, got it a couple weeks ago -
----------------
On the flying front, Saudi S-model crew has UTL A failure, decides to take cable. Lands well past cable (about the same distance as Seymour’s). Decides to stay on runway and take departure end. Never uses any braking (aero/emer/nothing) and takes dep end at nearly 120 knots. Drags it nearly past the overrun. Not a word spoken in jet for last 5 minutes of flight.
Saudi demonstration team lines up for 8-ship deployment (2+2+2+2 departure :15 second spacing). 1st two ship, uneventful. 2nd two ship, one gets airborne, one has problem, does way high speed abort, then punches out at end of runway. 3rd two ship decides 15 seconds is way too much and does about a 5 second spacing departure and high speed aborts behind wreckage (one more ejection apparently for mutual support). Last two ship again decides spacing too much and does high speed abort through wreckage. Remaining airborne 3 ship decides now to *land back on the single runway* to see how the bros are doing. FOD all quads. Demo team now grounded.
C-model starts/taxies/makes it through arming, with door 3R still propped open. Wingman finally notices while lining up for form T/O.
I finally got to fly last month. Second sortie (no-**** Blue vs Blue where the goal apparently is to keep aborting until Bingo) I say f**k this and press to merge. End up gunning the King’s son. In debrief he said my shot was not valid. I asked if he saw the tape. He says “No, but didn’t you here my terminate for gas call a minute earlier?” to which I replied “well, why were you still putting out flares then?”. He’s not happy with me.
------
Full thread (and some other interesting USAF stuff) is at:
http://www.dynamictruth.com/ubb/ulti.../t/003869.html
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Re: Saudi Arabia commits to Eurofighter Typhoon deal
Originally Posted by ORAC
Hmmm, quick search, Gulf War, day one.
"RSAF No 7 Squadron with GR1 Tornado, Commanded by LtCol Saeed - Saudi Flak-Suppression flight went 15 minutes ahead of a UK package attacking an Iraqi Airfield Complex with 3 parallel runways. LtCol Sultan, a former F-15 pilot and 1st 1000 hr Tornado pilot, pressed on alone from a flight of three after the others missed tankers."
"RSAF No 7 Squadron with GR1 Tornado, Commanded by LtCol Saeed - Saudi Flak-Suppression flight went 15 minutes ahead of a UK package attacking an Iraqi Airfield Complex with 3 parallel runways. LtCol Sultan, a former F-15 pilot and 1st 1000 hr Tornado pilot, pressed on alone from a flight of three after the others missed tankers."
I would suggest your sources are somewhat suspect....
http://www.sci.fi/~fta/Day-1.htm
More romantic fiction than science fiction
Edited for the sake of fairness...
They weren't all complete W****ers so I suppose it's possible 1 made it through. and frankly rather him than me. I would also add that my experience is somewhat embittered by the fact The RAF were losing crews left right and center, and the guys we were supposed to be fighting for (amongst others) were nowhere to be seen.
Last edited by ARINC; 3rd Jan 2006 at 15:09.
Re: Saudi Arabia commits to Eurofighter Typhoon deal
This is way of topic but..........
ARINC
When I was at Dharhan 88/89 the F15 were maintained soley by the Saudis.
GR and F3 Tonkas were BAEs with trainee Saudis for educating (entertaining
).
The whole thing strikes me as a very clever way to keep British jobs and oil safe for a long time yet! and of course deprive the RAF of spares and aircraft for a while longer. c/f the introduction of GR1 and F3.
ARINC
When I was at Dharhan 88/89 the F15 were maintained soley by the Saudis.
GR and F3 Tonkas were BAEs with trainee Saudis for educating (entertaining
).The whole thing strikes me as a very clever way to keep British jobs and oil safe for a long time yet! and of course deprive the RAF of spares and aircraft for a while longer. c/f the introduction of GR1 and F3.
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Re: Saudi Arabia commits to Eurofighter Typhoon deal
My friend went to Saudi a few months before the war. Allegedly quite a number of the Royal Saudi Airforce went on unplanned leave when the war started. Luckily for my friend the retention bonus for staying with BAe was quite large and it was seen as politically expedient for the RSAF to be able to operate the Tornado's.
In fairness to the Saudi's - I don't think the current U.K government is aware of the Typhoon's capability or indeed bothered ! They can see barrels of oil which in a increasingly jittery world is worth far more than jets which they can buy at some stage in the future.
In fairness to the Saudi's - I don't think the current U.K government is aware of the Typhoon's capability or indeed bothered ! They can see barrels of oil which in a increasingly jittery world is worth far more than jets which they can buy at some stage in the future.
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This was the exchange in the Lords yesterday:
Lord Garden asked Her Majesty's Government:
What effect the sale to Saudi Arabia of Eurofighter Typhoon and associated training support will have on the planned dates for Royal Air Force operational declarations.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): My Lords, detailed negotiations for the sale of Typhoon aircraft to Saudi Arabia are ongoing and commercially sensitive. However, we do not expect the sale of Typhoon aircraft to the Royal Saudi Air Force to alter Typhoon's operational employment date with the RAF, which is planned for later this decade.
Lord Garden: My Lords, I am most grateful to the Minister for that reassurance. After the delays of the entry into service of Eurofighter Typhoon, I am slightly surprised to discover that 48 are in the shed, available for rapid delivery to Saudi Arabia, but let us assume that it is true. What is the Minister going to do about the necessary pilots for training the Saudis? Pilots currently cost £6 million apiece, according to the NAO. Will BAE Systems contribute to the MoD budget to provide more pilots?
Lord Drayson: My Lords, as I said, the details relating to the understanding are commercially sensitive and ongoing. None the less, we plan to have sufficient trained aircrew to support our requirement for 80 fast jets on operations and have the funding to do so
What effect the sale to Saudi Arabia of Eurofighter Typhoon and associated training support will have on the planned dates for Royal Air Force operational declarations.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): My Lords, detailed negotiations for the sale of Typhoon aircraft to Saudi Arabia are ongoing and commercially sensitive. However, we do not expect the sale of Typhoon aircraft to the Royal Saudi Air Force to alter Typhoon's operational employment date with the RAF, which is planned for later this decade.
Lord Garden: My Lords, I am most grateful to the Minister for that reassurance. After the delays of the entry into service of Eurofighter Typhoon, I am slightly surprised to discover that 48 are in the shed, available for rapid delivery to Saudi Arabia, but let us assume that it is true. What is the Minister going to do about the necessary pilots for training the Saudis? Pilots currently cost £6 million apiece, according to the NAO. Will BAE Systems contribute to the MoD budget to provide more pilots?
Lord Drayson: My Lords, as I said, the details relating to the understanding are commercially sensitive and ongoing. None the less, we plan to have sufficient trained aircrew to support our requirement for 80 fast jets on operations and have the funding to do so
