What can Soviets do to minimize losses to saudi airforce?
Exist. I recall stories of USAF fighters being pulled off intercepts in DS so Saudi fighters could engage. Allegedly the AWACS controllers had to walk them through every step of the way.
What can Soviets do to minimize losses to saudi airforce?
And this is 1991 when saudis had f15 for almost 9 yrs ?Exist. I recall stories of USAF fighters being pulled off intercepts in DS so Saudi fighters could engage. Allegedly the AWACS controllers had to walk them through every step of the way.
And this is 1991 when saudis had f15 for almost 9 yrs ?
^^^ thanks
But with 60 saudi F15 backed by tankers and AWACS wouldn't an airborne invasion be suicidal?
Like I said, allegedly. Unless the US comes in to bail them out or some ASB gives them the clone army from Star Wars, I can’t see the Saudi’s lasting longer then a few weeks..
Of course, the Soviets can and probably will fuck themselves up here if they don’t handle certain aspects, like Mecca, with exquisite care. I’m just imagining time with a cover of a Kabba in flames from a missed Soviet air strike...
That could backfire, a mutiny from amongst the religious minded men OR the soviet central asians can be nominal muslims and if they drink or misbehave in anyway the blame will still fall on the SovietsSoviets could sent Central Asian divisions in, though. Kazakh, Uzbek, Tajik soldiers would be fine in the holy cities.
I dont think Soviets can deploy more than one airborne division and maybe brigade of naval marines for longThe logistical capacity of the Soviets to support a very large expeditionary force overseas is questionable. They could support an offensive corps (say 1 airborne division, one armoured division, three mechanised brigades & a composite naval infantry division) coming out of Iraq, while having the Iraqi & Yemeni forces commit on a larger scale. This alone would be enough to utterly thrash the Saudis.
I know OP specified no American involvement, but even in that case would be an interesting scenario. Can XVIII Airborne Corps deploy in strength to hold the invaaion before Saudi falls, or is the US forced to make an opposed landing to liberate the Arabian Peninsula?