Breaking Defense
Saudi Arabia plans to merge its air and space forces into a single organization sometime this year, three Saudi military officials told Breaking Defense, in part of what experts say is an ambitious but ultimately long-term plan for the Kingdom to develop robust space-based defense capabilities.
While plans can always change, one of the Saudi Ministry of Defense officials — who like the others spoke with Breaking Defense on the condition of anonymity at the World Defense Show outside Riyadh earlier this year — said, “We need space for deterrence. In 2024, MoD will merge air and space forces to defend the assets it has.”
That MoD official, who was at the Saudi MoD’s defense space domain stand at the show, added that the Kingdom also has plans that include launching a “satellite to support military applications in the near future.”
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) reportedly announced its intention to join its air and space forces in May 2022, but has not publicly provided a timeline for the move. Photos on the public US military image database DVIDS show US Air Force officials met with their Saudi counterparts at the Pentagon in October 2023 and “provided guidance to Saudi Arabian staff for the upcoming merger of the air force and air defense force into the Royal Saudi Air and Space Force.”
The Saudi Ministry of Defense did not respond to Breaking Defense’s emailed request for additional comment, nor did the office of the US Air Force officials at the October meeting.
The merger, experts said, is an early step on a long road.
“Space is mostly aspirational for KSA. They are producing a space strategy which will look at defense and tourism applications, but there is very little in place now and this won’t be militarily significant for some time,” David Des Roches, associate professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Security Studies, told Breaking Defense. Des Roches noted that even the term “space force” for KSA is a bit of a misnomer right now, as the country currently has “nascent space domain awareness capabilities with the Air Force.”
Similarly, a regional space expert said the Saudi military “is serious about space, but currently has no capability and no organizational capacity apart from a small group of officers led by a two-star charged with figuring it all out.
“The Saudis are working with US advisors on the matter, and have been cultivating relations with US Space Command,” said the expert. “In the coming years the idea is that the RSAF [Royal Saudi Air Force] will transition to the Royal Saudi Air and Space Force.”
