Above: A Tornado
four-ship
prepares to
depart Dhahran
in 1991.
Ian Black
Below right: The
75th Squadron
deployed eight
aircraft on
Exercise ‘Saudi
Green Flag’ at
RAF Lossiemouth
between
August 28 and
September 6,
2007.
Jamie Hunter
Below: Sadly, the
two-tone brown
and dark green
camoufl age has
been completely
superseded by
overall gray. This
Damocles-toting
example was
photographed at
Konya during an
‘Anatolian Eagle’
exercise.
Mick BalterRSAF Tornados were ill-prepared. The
force quickly equipped its Tornados with
the Thomson-CSF Convertible Laser
Designation Pod (CLDP), which was used
by Italian Tornados, the RSAF unusually
choosing not to follow the RAF and its
Thermal Imaging and Airborne Laser
Designator (TIALD) pods. Before a full
upgrade could be initiated, Dhahran’s
Tornados found themselves at war again,
during Operation ‘Iraqi Freedom’ between
March 20 and May 1, 2003.
Later in 2003, BAE Systems announced
it was negotiating to provide a
comprehensive upgrade for the RSAF IDS
eet — then put at 84 aircraft — with
the aim of keeping the aircraft viableuntil 2020 and beyond. Known as the
Tornado Sustainment Programme (TSP),
the upgrade was intended to improve
serviceability, address obsolescence
issues and enhance and sustain the
capability of the aircraft. Although the
upgrade was at one time expected to
encompass the Saudi ADVs, they were
retired by August 2006.
Three RSAF Tornados arrived at BAE
Systems’ Warton plant in April 2005 to
serve as prototypes and development
aircraft for TSP. One was a standard IDS
(serial 6606, own in the UK as ZK113),
one an IDS(T) (7503, not allocated a UK
serial) and one an IDS(R) (6631, own in
the UK as ZH917).IDS was lost on January 19 to anti-aircraft
re. After the war, the 66th Squadron
continued expanding, eventually receiving
18 IDS aircraft (including four twin-
stickers) and six recce jets by January 1992.
Eventually it moved back to Dhahran.
A second deal
A second phase of the program (Al
Yamamah II) was originally signed in
Bermuda on July 3, 1988, by the Saudi
and British defense ministers, covering
12 IDS and 36 ADV aircraft. However, this
agreement was terminated in July 1990.
When the de nitive Al Yamamah II deal
was nally signed in July 1993 it covered
48 IDS aircraft, 10 of them twin-stickers
and six in the IDS(R) recce con guration.
The nal aircraft in the batch, serial 8319,
was the last Tornado ever built.
Most of the new aircraft — which
were delivered between August 1996
and September 1998 — were used to
equip two more units, the 75th and
83rd Squadrons, both at Dhahran.
They formed in August and November
1996 respectively. Each received 19
IDS, while the six recce aircraft and four
trainers went to the 66th Squadron
from May 1997.
Dhahran was named King Abdullah Aziz
Air Base in 1999 when all RSAF air bases
were named after members of the Saudi
royal family. At the same time, the air arm
introduced a new system of wings, the
Tornados at Dhahran coming under the
control of the 11th Wing.
Mid-life upgrade — TSP
During the 1990s there was a marked
shift towards the use of precision-guided
munitions and operations from medium
level, for which the low-level specialist
http://www.combataircraft.net // December 2018 31