Qatar Bahrain
A-4KU Skyhawk aircraft of the Kuwaiti air force being
serviced in Saudi Arabia in preparation for an Operation Desert
Storm mission
Courtesy United States Air Force
A UH-1W Iroquois helicopter of the Bahrain Defense Force
takes part in a training mission following Operation Desert Storm.
Courtesy United States Air Force
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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