Jordan Air Force
Flight simulator used in pilot training at Royal
Jordanian Air Force Academy
The Royal Jordanian Air Force was charged with the missions of
air defense of territorial integrity, close support of the army,
tactical bombing, and airlift of troops and supplies. The air force
began operations in 1949 as a component of the Arab Legion.
Designated initially as the Arab Legion Air Force, the service
depended in large part on pilots and other technical personnel
seconded to the legion from the RAF. Eventually, selected
volunteers from the legion were trained at the unit's airfield near
Amman, and some were sent to flight and technical schools operated
by the RAF in Britain. Growing unrest in the Middle East soon
convinced the Jordanian government of the need to expand the air
force's mission to include combat capability, which was achieved in
1955 with a British gift of nine Vampire MK 9 fighter-bombers.
Since its inception, the air force has struggled to develop and
maintain a level of combat capability that would be viable against
potential enemies in the region. The primary perceived threat has
been the superior air power of Israel. The constant modernization
of aircraft and associated weaponry essential to afford Jordanian
pilots some chance of success has posed a severe challenge.
From the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, the primary combat
airplanes of the air force inventory consisted of Hawker Hunter
fighter-bombers that were transferred from the RAF but paid for by
the United States. During the first few hours of the June 1967 War,
Israeli pilots destroyed all but one of Jordan's serviceable combat
airplanes as well as three Hunters on loan from Iraq. To assist
Jordan in its recovery from the loss of virtually its entire air
arm, additional Hunter aircraft were supplied by Britain and Saudi
Arabia. In mid-1969, the United States provided twenty F-104
Starfighters to form the first Jordanian fighter-interceptor
squadron. To preclude a future recurrence of the 1967 disaster,
Jordan installed surveillance radars to cover most of the country,
constructed hardened shelters to protect all combat aircraft, and
implemented plans for the emergency dispersal of the air force.
When the October 1973 War broke out, Israel refrained from
attacking the Jordanian bases and Hussein's air force did not play
an active role in the war. In 1974, the United States began
deliveries of F-5s. The F-5 was well regarded as a light fighter
plane but lacked modern avionics, thus limiting it to daylight,
fair-weather combat. Unable to obtain an American replacement for
the obsolete Starfighters because of United States Congressional
opposition, Hussein turned to France, acquiring between 1981 and
1983 more than thirty Mirage F-1s, with Saudi Arabian financial
assistance. Armed with Matra and Magic air-to-air missiles, the
Mirage aircraft were an improvement in terms of range and avionics
but were considerably inferior to the American F-15s and F-16s in
the Israeli inventory and to the more advanced MiG-25 and MiG-29
Soviet fighters in the Syrian inventory.
During the 1980s, repeated efforts were made to include an air
defense version of the F-16 or the F-20 in United States military
assistance packages, but these were vetoed by Congress because of
Israeli objections
(see Jordan - Military Cooperation with the United States
, this ch.). In early 1988, it was announced that an order
had been placed with France for the purchase of twenty Mirage 2000
fighters and for the modernization of fifteen of the Mirage F-1s.
The transaction included an option for the acquisition of a further
twenty Mirage 2000s. The cost, estimated at US$1.3 billion, was to
be repaid under generous credit terms offered by the French and may
have involved partial funding by Saudi Arabia. It was also
announced that Jordan had contracted to buy eight Tornado strike
aircraft from Britain but, according to a subsequent report, Jordan
canceled the transaction for cost reasons.
In 1988 the air force was organized tactically into four
fighter-ground-attack squadrons of F-5Es and F-5Fs, two fighter
squadrons of Mirage F-1s, an advanced training squadron of F-5As
and F-5Bs, a transport squadron, and four helicopter squadrons (see
table 16, Appendix). The main air bases were King Abdullah Air Base
at Marka near Amman, King Hussein Air Base at Al Mafraq, and Prince
Hasan Air Base at pumping station H5 in the desert east of Amman.
These bases were all in the north within a few minutes' flight time
of either Israel or Syria. Other bases were at Azraq ash Shishan,
also in the eastern desert, and dispersal bases at King Faisal Air
Base, Al Jafr and at Al Aqabah in the south. The tactical fighter
squadrons operated from the bases at Azraq ash Shishan, Al Mafraq,
and pumping station H5. In addition to serving as home for the air
force headquarters, King Abdullah Air Base near Amman accommodated
the service's transport squadron and its liaison and air rescue
units.
Training of flight personnel, formerly accomplished in the
United States and Britain, in the later 1980s was conducted in
Jordan. The Royal Jordanian Air Academy at King Abdullah Air Base
provided cadets with both military instruction and an academic
education over a twenty-seven month period preparatory to being
commissioned as second lieutenants. Initial flight training
consisted of 250 flying hours in British Bulldogs, followed by
training on Spanish C-101 Aviojets that could be fitted as light
fighters and reconnaissance aircraft. Pilots who qualified for jets
progressed to F-5As and F-5Bs at Al Mafraq in a five-month course
in tactics and weapons employment before being assigned to combat
squadrons.
The new Mirage 2000s on order and the upgrading planned for the
Mirage F-1s and the F-5s helped to compensate in some degree for
Jordan's weaknesses in comparison to the air power of its Israeli
and Syrian neighbors. As of 1989, however, both potential
adversaries maintained a decisive advantage, rendering Jordan
extremely vulnerable to air attack. The main Jordanian base at Al
Mafraq was only fifty-five kilometers from Israel and only twelve
kilometers from the Syrian frontier. Even pumping station H5 in the
eastern desert was only 120 kilometers from Israel and 30
kilometers from Syria. Although the aircraft were sheltered against
surprise attack, bombardment of the runways could make the bases
inoperative. Radar coverage was being improved but, because of the
rough terrain features, gaps remained that experienced Israeli
pilots could exploit as attack corridors.
Ground-based strategic air defense was the responsibility of
the air force rather than the army. The air force operated fourteen
Improved Hawk SAM batteries (126 launchers) that were sited to
afford protection to key military and civil targets. The Hawk was
a high-quality, all-weather system with reliable target detection
and resistance to electronic countermeasures. Being immobile and at
well-known sites, however, the Hawks were considered vulnerable to
low-level Israeli air attack. Plans by the United States to provide
upgrading and mobility packages for these batteries and to sell
additional Hawk systems to Jordan had been frustrated by
congressional opposition, and as of 1989 no comparable air defense
system was being considered as an alternative.
Data as of December 1989
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