Kuwait Air Force

Kuwait Air Force al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Kuwaitiya
Kuwait Air Force roundel
Active	1953 (1953)
Country	Kuwait
Branch	Kuwait Armed Forces
Type	Air Force
Size	Approx. 5,000 personnel
Garrison/HQ	Abdullah Al-Mubarak Air Base
Motto(s)	الله والوطن والامير God, Country & The Emir
Colors	Green & Red
Anniversaries	National and Liberation Day (25 and 26 February)
Engagements	Operation Vantage 1973 Samita border skirmish Invasion of Kuwait Operation Desert Storm Operation Desert Fox War on Terror 2015 military intervention in Yemen
Commanders
Assistant Chief Combat Commander of Kuwait Air Force	Kuwait Air Force Commander
Aircraft flown
Attack	McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Boeing AH-64 Apache
Fighter	F/A-18 Hornet
Patrol	Aerospatiale SA-342 Gazelle
Trainer	Short Tucano, BAE Hawk, SA-342
Transport	Lockheed L-100 Hercules Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma Lockheed Martin KC-130J

The Kuwait Air Force (Arabic: القوات الجوية الكويتية Trans: al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Kuwaitiya) is the air arm of the State of Kuwait. The Air Force headquarters is located at Abdullah Al-Mubarak Air Base, with the remaining forces stationed at Air Defense Brigades, Ali Al Salem Air Base and Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base. The Kuwait Air Force numbers approximately 5,000 officers and enlisted personnel.

History

The Kuwait Air Force was founded in 1953 by Field Marshal Sheikh Abdullah Mubarak Al-Sabah when the Directorate of Public Security Force split from the Kuwaiti Army; the new force was equipped with a number of Austers in different configurations and two de Havilland DH.104 Doves.|reason=Date of foundation has to be considered suspect, found a reliable source stating the first Kuwaiti pilot had his first solo flight while learning to fly, in 1954. Another source states that four Austers were delivered to the Kuwait Aero Club in March 1954, with no mention of military deliveries.

The Kuwait Air Force was expanded concurrently with the course of the British intervention during Operation Vantage that deterred Iraq from annexing Kuwait as one of its provinces. The first aircraft to enter KAF service were four Whirlwind helicopters and six BAC/Hunting Jet Provost T.51s. This support from the UK would remain in place for a long time and 1964 was known for the arrival of the first Hawker Hunters. These would later be joined by more examples in 1969. Two de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou transports arrived in 1963. The transport capacity would later be improved by the acquisition of an ex-RAF Armstrong Whitworth AW.660 Argosy in 1969 and later, in 1971, by two Lockheed L-100-20 Hercules.

Kuwait Air Force English Electric Lightning F.53 before delivery in June 1969

In the meantime the fighter force was given a boost by the procurement of 14 English Electric Lightnings that were delivered in the late 1960s. Twelve BAC Strikemasters were delivered in 1969.

Between 1968 and 1977 two Bell 206s operated in KAF service and from November 1969, eight Augusta Bell 205s were delivered, replacing the aging Whirlwinds. Only five years after the delivery of the Lightnings, the KAF decided it needed an aircraft with better serviceability; it had been using the Hunters and the Strikemasters in the interceptor and ground strike role, rather than the Lightnings. Finally in 1974 the Mirage F1 was selected as the new air defence fighter and a total of 27 Mirage F1CKs and seven Mirage F1BKs were ordered and delivered in two separate batches until 1983. The ground strike role would be filled in by the total of 36 Douglas (T)A-4KU Skyhawks that were ordered in 1974 and delivered during 1977. In addition, 24 SNIAS SA-342K Gazelles were delivered during the mid-1970s and 4 were subsequently passed on to the Police Air Wing. Four L-100-30 Hercules transport aircraft were delivered in 1983, replacing the shorter L-100-20 version of which only one survived (the other crashed in France). Also in 1983, twelve Hawk T64s were ordered to fill the gap that the KAF had in training capacity. In 1988 the Air Force was named al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Kuwaitiya (Kuwait Air Force). The lead-in-fighter-trainer that was selected, the Shorts Tucano T.52, would only be delivered in 1995. They were earmarked for delivery in 1990 but due to the outbreak of the Gulf War, deliveries were postponed.

Post Gulf War

After the Gulf War, the KAF underwent a reorganization; and the Douglas A-4 Skyhawks and Dassault Mirage F1s were soon phased out in favour of the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. Forty Hornets, consisting of 32 F/A-18Cs and 8 F/A-18Ds, are flying with the 9th Squadron and 25th Squadron from Ahmed al Jaber. The first six of sixteen AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters were handed over to the Kuwait Air Force on 3 February 2006. The remaining ten aircraft were delivered thereafter. All the helicopters are pre-configured to carry the AN/APG-78 Longbow radar kits.

Current

Lockheed Martin has received a $245 million contract from the U.S. Government for the Foreign Military Sale of 3 KC-130J tanker aircraft to Kuwait. The program will be managed by the U.S. Navy. The Kuwait Air Force's new KC-130Js will provide aerial refueling for its F/A-18 fleet and augment its current airlift fleet of three Lockheed Martin L-100s. Kuwait's KC-130Js also will perform air mobility, disaster relief and humanitarian missions throughout the world. Kuwait's first KC-130J delivery is scheduled for late 2013, with deliveries completed in early 2014. Using only wing and external tanks.^[1] In September 2010, Kuwait requested to purchase one Boeing C-17.^[2] The USA is to sell 60 Patriot (PAC-3) missiles, 20 launching stations, four radar systems and control stations, personnel training and training equipment, and spare parts to Kuwait in a deal worth an estimated $4.2 billion, The Department of Defense of the U.S. awarded Raytheon a $655.4 million, took the form of a firm-fixed-price, sole-source, foreign military sales contract to supply to the Kuwaiti military two PATRIOT fire units, plus associated spare parts. Delivery of the units is expected to take place by April 30, 2018, in June 23, 2016 Raytheon Co was awarded a $523 million fixed-price-incentive contract to modernize six Patriot fire units in Kuwait, the U.S. Defense Department said on Thursdays

On September 12, 2015, the Eurofighter consortium revealed that the Eurofighter Typhoon had been selected by Kuwait to update its fleet with 28 new fighter jets.

In September 2016 it was announced that the sale of up to 40 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet had been submitted to the US Congress for approval.^[3] Deal for 40 planes valued at USD10.1 billion was signed off on November 2016.^[4]

Structure

Aircraft

Current inventory

A Kuwaiti F/A-18C Hornet in 1993

Kuwait Air Force Lockheed Hercules transport aircraft in 1999

A Tucano Mk.52 at the Farnborough Air Show 1992

Air Defence

Part of Munitions

Ranks of the Kuwait Air Force

Air Officer Corps

Air Enlisted Corps

See also

• Chief of the General Staff (Kuwait)

References

1. ↑ http://defpro.com/news/details/15576/
2. ↑ Trimble, Stephen (28 September 2010). "Kuwait requests possible C-17 buy". Flight International. Retrieved 2010-09-29. 
3. ↑ "Fighter Jet Sales to Gulf Allies Backed by U.S. After a Wait". Bloomberg. 29 September 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016. 
4. 1 2 "Qatar and Kuwait fighter deals signed off". Combat Aircraft. 18 November 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2016. 
5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "World Air Forces 2016 pg. 22". Flightglobal Insight. 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016. 
6. ↑ "Kuwait places order for 28 Typhoons". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 6 April 2016. 
7. ↑ "France, Kuwait strike $2.8bn military deals". presstv.ir. Retrieved 10 February 2016. 
8. ↑ "Arms Transfers Database". Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Retrieved 12 April 2016. 

External links

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