Photos Sultanate of Oman Armed Forces

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The Sultan's Armed Forces (SAF) — Arabic: القوات المسلحة لسلطان عمان, transliterated: al-Quwāt ul-Musallaḥatu lis-Sulṭān ‘Umān) are the Royal Army of Oman (Arabic: الجيش العماني, transliterated: al-Jaīsh al-‘Umānī), Royal Navy of Oman, Royal Air Force of Oman, Sultan's Special Forces and other defense forces of the Sultanate of Oman. Since their formal establishment in the early 1950s, with British assistance SAF has twice overcome insurgencies which have threatened the integrity or social structure of the state, and more recently have contributed contingents or facilities to coalitions formed to protect the Persian Gulf states.
  • One divisional HQ
  • Two brigade HQ (Northern Brigade, Southern Brigade) with a 3rd in the process of being established for Border Security
  • Armour
    • Two Armoured Regiments (battalion-sized, one with Challenger 2, one with M60A3)
    • Armoured Car Regiment (battalion)
  • Infantry
    • Mechanized Regiment (one battalion)
    • Muscat Regiment (one battalion)
    • Northern Frontier Regiment (one battalion)
    • Desert Regiment (one battalion)
    • Jebel Regiment (one battalion)
    • Southern Regiment (two battalions, composed of Baluchi personnel)
  • Artillery
    • Four Artillery Regiments (battalions)
  • SAF Signals
  • SAF Engineers
  • SAF Electrical & Mechanical Engineers

The Omani army is qualitatively superior to that of many neighbouring countries with one regiment of British-built Challenger 2 main battle tanks and the other slightly larger regiment of M60 (predominantly M60A3) MBTs rounding out Oman's sole armoured brigade. Oman recently received 174 Piranha light armoured vehicles and over 80 VBL scout cars from France to further strengthen military capabilities. In terms of artillery, in the 1990s, Oman received G6 155 mm howitzers from South Africa, and Oman's anti-tank capabilities are to be greatly strengthened by the soon-to-be-delivered 100 Javelin missiles from the United States. On a troop level, Oman's armed forces are frequently trained and briefed by the regular British Army and elite British Special Air Service (SAS).

The primary assault rifle of the Omani army is the Austrian Steyr AUG rifle , with some special task units uses M-16 and M-4 variants, plus many small arms varieties.
 
29th March 2010.
Oregon National Guard Training in Oman An Oregon National Guard Soldier from the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team’s 1st Squadron, 82nd Cavalry Regiment, communicates with members of his squad and Soldiers of the Royal Army of Oman’s 11th Brigade, Western Frontier Regiment, at the Rubkut Training Range, Jan. 24. Oregon National Guard Soldiers spent two weeks training with Omani Soldiers, and a platoon from the 125th Forward Support Company from Joint Base Lewis McCord, Wash., during an U.S. Army Central-sponsored event designed to share knowledge and build diplomatic relations. (U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Cory Grogan, Oregon Military Department Public Affairs)
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February 2019, The Royal Army of Oman (RAO), represented by personnel of the 11th Infantry Brigade, with the participation of the Sultan of Oman Artillery, the Sultan of Oman Parachutes and the Sultan’s Armed Forces Engineering, with support from the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO), carried out the Omani-American Joint Exercise (Valley of Fire), with the participation of units from the US Infantry,
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2016, The Royal Navy of Oman has received the second High Speed Support Vessel (HSSV) from Australian shipbuilder Austal.
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The first Al-Ofouq-class patrol vessel, Al-Seeb. The class' final platform, Khassab, was delivered in June 2016.
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In the shimmering white heat of an Omani summer day, a Sepecat Jaguar adds superheated jet exhaust to the miserable mix as its pilot shows off for the ground personnel watching from the shade. In 1990, the SOAF was renamed the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO). Since this photo was taken in January of 1981, this would be an SOAF Jag. The shot was taken by Bill Fletcher, a British contractor working on maintaining the Jaguars and Hunters at Thumrait. What is not clear in the photo is that behind the photographer a fuel bowser was crossing the ramp and the Jag had to do some drastic manœuvring to avoid disaster. Tim Croton, the son-in-law of the photographer, tells us the aircraft was at 10 feet of the deck—plus or minus two feet!
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A particularly heartstopping photo of a Hawker Hunter of the Sultan of Oman’s Air Force beating up the base at Thumrait. The Sultan employed former RAF pilots to fly Hunters and Strikemasters to help put down the Dhofar rebels in the south. They clearly were bored from time to time! The rebellion ended in 1976, Kevin Turner, writes: “I used to work at Thumrait back in the 1980’s and 90’s and this was standard practice when returning from a sortie in those bad old days, most of the pilots were seconded from the RAF or contract pilots. I think the Jaguar was being flown by Dick Manning, an ex-Phantom jockey from the RAF and a regular low-level “offender.” He used to aim for anyone walking out on the pan! You could hear the Hunter coming as it had this low frequency howl before it arrived, but the Jag was totally silent until it arrived and your senses were shattered by the noise! We even had a Jag hit a car being driven by one of the Hunter pilots coming back from Salalah. That was Dick Manning again. The centreline pylon caved the roof in and the ventral strakes on the engine doors took the A, B and C pillars out on the car. Dick said he didn’t even know he’d hit the car!!! Another Jag hit the Range Safety Officers walkway handrail with the outer section of the port wing during a beat-up.
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