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Kuwait
Bahrain
After more than 150 years of British presence and protection,
Bahrain gained full independence on August 15, 1971. The agreement
granting independence contained no provision for British defense
in an emergency, but it did provide for consultation. British
authorities hoped that Bahrain, the most economically and socially
advanced of the small gulf states, might take the lead in a federation
similar to that of the UAE, but both Bahrain and Qatar opted instead
for complete independence. Shaykh Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifa, leader
of the Al Khalifa since the death of his father in 1961, became
the newly independent country's first amir and continued as the
hereditary ruler in 1993.
The constitution designates the amir supreme commander of the
armed forces. In 1977 Isa ibn Salman chose his eldest son and
heir apparent, Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa, to be minister of defense
and commander in chief of the Bahrain Defense Force (BDF). In
1988 the former chief of staff, Major General Khalifa ibn Ahmad
Al Khalifa, was named minister of defense, but Hamad ibn Isa retained
the position of commander in chief in 1993. Other members of the
Al Khalifa in prominent military positions include the new chief
of staff, Brigadier General Abd Allah ibn Salman Al Khalifa, as
well as the assistant chief of staff for operations, the chief
of naval staff, and the commander of the air force. As in other
gulf states, the ruling family keeps a tight hold on important
positions in the national security structure.
The BDF is principally dedicated to the maintenance of internal
security and the protection of the shores of the Bahrain archipelago.
Nevertheless, with the rise of tensions in the Persian Gulf, the
force has nearly tripled in size since 1984 and has added significantly
to its inventory of modern armaments. Its total personnel strength
in 1992 was about 6,150: army, 5,000; navy, 500; and air force,
650. The Bahraini army is organized into one brigade, consisting
of two mechanized infantry battalions, one tank battalion, one
special forces battalion, an armored car squadron, and two artillery
and two mortar batteries. Its principal armored weapons are M-60A3
main battle tanks purchased from the United States in the late
1980s. Deliveries are awaited on an order for eighty United States
M-113 APCs, supplementing a mixed accumulation of older armored
vehicles. The army's artillery pieces consist of a few towed 105mm
and 155mm howitzers. Its principal antitank weapon is the BGM-71
AI-TOW wire-guided missile (see table 39, Appendix).
Until 1979, when its first fast-attack craft were ordered from
the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), Bahrain's maritime
force was a coast guard under the supervision of the minister
of interior. As of 1992, the navy was equipped with two Lürssen
sixty-two-meter corvettes. One Dauphin helicopter armed with an
antiship missile has been delivered for use with the corvettes.
The navy also has in its inventory four forty-five- meter Lürssen
fast-attack craft and two thirty-eight-meter craft. The coast
guard operates a variety of patrol craft, as well as three landing
craft and a Hovercraft.
The Bahraini air force began operations in 1977 with a gradually
expanding fleet of helicopters. Its first combat aircraft--United
States F-5s--were acquired in 1986, followed in 1990 by more advanced
F-16s. As of 1992, it had twelve F-5s and twelve F-16s. Eight
Apache attack helicopters were ordered from the United States
in 1991 to defend the archipelago and offshore oil platforms against
incursions or terrorist action. I-Hawk SAMs are on order as the
principal air defense weapon. After initially being denied shoulder-fired
Stinger SAMs by congressional objections, Bahrain was allowed
to purchase the weapons on a provisional basis and later to retain
them permanently. The main air force base is adjacent to Bahrain
International Airport on Al Muharraq. Another base developed for
use in the Persian Gulf War is available near the southern tip
of Bahrain; as of 1992, it was being used for servicing carrier-based
United States aircraft.
Defense expenditures, which reached a peak of US$281 million
in 1982, fell off sharply before gradually rising again to US$237
million in 1992. Because of its declining revenue from oil, the
amirate has fewer resources available for defense than the more
prosperous gulf states. The GCC had allotted Bahrain and Oman
a special subsidy of US$1.8 billion between 1984 and 1994. Bahrain's
share enabled it to purchase new fighter aircraft and to construct
its new air base.
At the time of the British withdrawal in 1971, the United States
leased port and docking facilities from the government of Bahrain
for the United States Middle East Force. This was, in fact, an
extension of a United States-British agreement, in effect since
the late 1940s, enabling United States naval vessels to use facilities
at Al Jufayr, a port section of the capital, Manama. The agreement
was a sensitive one because none of the Arab states of the gulf
wanted to appear to be submitting to any new form of colonialism
or to be too closely associated with the United States, the main
supporter of Israel. In 1977 the amir's government terminated
the lease. The headquarters of the United States Middle East Force
was compelled to move aboard one of the three ships that constituted
the force. Otherwise, little changed as a result of the termination
of the lease. United States ships- -with the aid of a support
unit manned by about sixty-five United States naval personnel--were
still permitted to use Bahraini port facilities for naval operations
in the gulf to ensure the availability of fuel, communications,
and supplies. During the Iran-Iraq War, when attacks on gulf shipping
threatened Bahrain's oil refining and tanker servicing operations,
United States personnel and military cargoes were permitted to
transit the region via Bahrain International Airport. Large barges
in Bahraini waters were used as bases for United States attack
helicopters, radar, and air defense weapons. In October 1991,
Bahrain signed a defense cooperation agreement with the United
States similar to that previously concluded between the United
States and Kuwait. The agreement provided for port access, equipment
storage, and joint exercises.
Data as of January 1993
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