Saudi Arabian Army

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Arabic. Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Arabic Wikipedia article at [[:ar:القوات البرية الملكية السعودية]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|ar|القوات البرية الملكية السعودية}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Royal Saudi Land Forces
القوات البرية الملكية السعودية
Emblem of the Royal Saudi Land Forces
Founded	1744 de facto January 13, 1902 de jure Land forces
Role	Ground-based warfare
Size	75,000[2]
Part of	Armed Forces GSP
Garrison/HQ	13 January ; 122 years ago Battle of Riyadh (1902)
Equipment	Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud (1755–1834) Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Al Saud Abdullah bin Saud Al Saud Faisal al-Duwaish Dhaydan bin Hithlain Sultan bin Bajad Al Otaibi Sultan bin Abdulaziz
Insignia
Flag
War flag

The Saudi Arabian Army, officially the Royal Saudi Land Forces (

The modern Army of Arabia has its roots in the

• Wars of Najed (1744–88)
• Saudi–Mamluk War (1790–1811)
• Ottoman–Saudi War
  (1811–18)
• Saudi Civil War (1865–75)
• Ottoman campaign II (1870–71)
• Battle of Arwa (1883)
• Battle of Mulayda (1891)
• Battle of Riyadh III
• Battle of Dilam (1903)
• Saudi–Rashidi War
  (1903–07)
• Battle of Hadia (1910)
• Battle of al-Kut (1913)
• Battle of Jarrab (1915)
• Battle of Kinzaan (1915)
• Saudi–Hashemite War (1918–19)
• Kuwait-Saudi War
  (1919–20)
• Battle of Hail (1921)
• Saudi-Transjordan War (1922)
• Battle of Hejaz II (1924–25)
• Ikhwan Revolt
  (1927–30)
• Mutawakkilite War (1934)
• 1948 Arab–Israeli War more than 3,000 Saudi troops participated in combat against Israel.^{[citation needed]}
• 1967 RSLF deployed over 20,000 troops in Jordan.^{[citation needed]}
• 1969 Al-Wadiah War. South Yemeni Forces invaded Al-Wadiah, a Saudi town, but later were defeated by the Saudi Army.^[8][9]
• 1973 during the Yom Kippur War, Saudi Arabia airlifted a light armoured battalion of Panhard AML-90s and 3,000 troops to Syria four days after the conflict began.^[10] The force participated in a number of relatively minor clashes with the IDF between October 16-19, mostly in concert with the Jordanian 40th Armored Brigade.^[11]
• 1979 Grand Mosque seizure. The Saudi army and SANG, together with Pakistani and French commandoes, reclaimed the mosque from extremist insurgents.
• Gulf War (1990–91) Together with the allied forces, the Saudi army and SANG played a major part in the Battle of Khafji and the Liberation of Kuwait.
• 2007–10
  Houthi Insurgency
  . Yemeni Houthis attacked southern Saudi Arabia and were defeated by the Saudi army.
• 2015
  Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
  .

Structure

The combat strength of the Saudi Army consists of four armoured, five mechanized, two light infantry brigades, one airborne brigade, the Al-Saif Al-Ajrab guard brigade, the Saudi Royal Guard Regiment (three battalions), three helicopter groups, and three artillery brigades.^[12] In 2004, it was reported that the RSLF deployed "..the 12th Armoured Brigade and 6th Mechanized Brigade at King Faisal Military City in the Tabuk area. It deployed the 4th Armoured Brigade, and 11th Mechanized Brigade at King Abdul Aziz Military City in the Khamis Mushayt area. It deploy[ed] the 20th Mechanized Brigade and 8th Mechanized Brigade at King Khalid Military City near Hafr al Batin. The 10th Mechanized Brigade is deploy[ed] at Sharawrah, which is near the border with Yemen and about 150 kilometers from Zamak."^[13]

Despite the addition of a number of units and increased mobility achieved during the 1970s and 1980s, the army's personnel complement has expanded only moderately since a major buildup was launched in the late 1960s. The army has been chronically understrength, in the case of some units by an estimated 30 to 50 percent. These shortages have been aggravated by a relaxed policy that permitted considerable absenteeism and by a serious problem of retaining experienced technicians and

• 4th (King Khaled) Armoured Brigade
• 6th (King Fah'd) Armoured Brigade
• 7th (Prince Sultan) Armoured Brigade
• 8th (King Fah'd) Armoured Brigade
• 10th (King Faisal) Armoured Brigade
• 12th (Khalid ibn al-Walid) Armoured Brigade

A typical Saudi armoured brigade has an armoured reconnaissance company, three tank battalions with 35 tanks each, a mechanized infantry battalion with AIFVs/APCs, and an artillery battalion with 18 self-propelled guns. It also has an army aviation company, an engineer company, a logistic battalion, a field workshop, and a medical company.^[14]

Mechanized

• 11th Mechanized Brigade
• 12th Mechanized Brigade
• 13th Mechanized Brigade
• 14th Mechanized Brigade
• 20th Mechanized Brigade

A typical Saudi mechanized brigade has an armoured reconnaissance company, one tank battalion with 40 tanks, three mechanized infantry battalions with AIFVs/APCs, and an artillery battalion with 18 self-propelled guns. It also has an army aviation company, an engineer company, a logistic battalion, a field workshop, and a medical company. It has 24 anti-tank guided weapons launchers and four mortar sections with a total of eight 81 mm (3 in) mortars.^[14]

Infantry

• 16th (King Saud) Light motorized infantry brigade
• 17th (Abu Bakr al-Siddiq) Light motorized infantry brigade
• 18th (King Abdullah) Light motorized infantry brigade
• 19th (Umar ibn Al-Khattab) Light motorized infantry brigade

Each infantry brigade consists of three motorized battalions, an artillery battalion, and a support battalion. Army brigades should not be confused with Saudi Arabian National Guard brigades.^{[citation needed]}

Airborne Units and Special Security Forces

• The 1st Airborne Brigade
  • 4th Airborne Battalion
  • 5th Airborne Battalion
• 64th Special Forces Brigade
  • 85th Special Forces Battalion

The Airborne Brigade is normally deployed near Tabuk. The Airborne Brigade has two parachute battalions and three Special Forces companies. Saudi Arabia is expanding its Special Forces and improving their equipment and training to help deal with the threat of terrorism. The Special Forces have been turned into independent fighting units to help deal with terrorists, and report directly to Prince Sultan.^{[citation needed]}

Artillery Corps

• five artillery battalions
  • 14th FA (Towed, 155) Battalion
  • 15th FA (MLRS) Battalion
  • 18th Missile (MLRS) Battalion

Aviation

• 1st Aviation Group
• 2nd Aviation Group
• 3rd Aviation Group
• 4th Aviation Group

Ranks

RSLF officer

Rank group	General / flag officers										Senior officers						Junior officers								Officer cadet
Saudi Arabian Army[15] v t e
			فريق أول‎‎ Fariq 'awal		فريق Fariq		لواء Liwa		عميد Amid		عقيد Aqid		مقدم Muqaddam		رائد Ra'id		نقيب Naqib		ملازم أول Mulazim awwal			ملازم Mulazim			مرشح Murashah

RSLF enlisted

Rank group	Senior NCOs																						Junior NCOs						Enlisted
Saudi Arabian Army[15] v t e																																			No insignia
	رئيس رقباء Rayiys ruqaba'						رقيب أول Raqib 'awal		رقيب Raqib		وكيل رقيب Wakil raqib												عريف Earif						جندي أول Jundiun awwal						جندي‎‎ Jundiun‎‎

Equipment

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Royal Saudi Land Force.

• Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia
• Royal Saudi Navy
• Royal Saudi Air Force

References