| Unit Name: | Royal Saudi Air Defense |
| Native Name: | Arabic: الدِفَّاع الجوّي المَلكِيَّ السُّعُودِيَّ |
| Country: |  Saudi Arabia |
| Type: | Air defense |
| Role: | Aerial warfare |
| Size: | 16,000[1] |
| Command Structure: | Royal Armed Forces
|
| Garrison: | Riyadh (central HQ) |
| Garrison Label: | Headquarters |
| Battles: | Action of June 5, 1984 Gulf War Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen |
| Current Commander: | Lt. General Mazyad al-Amro |
| Identification Symbol Label: | Flag |
The Saudi Arabian Air Defense Forces or officially Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces (RSADF) (Arabic: قُوَّات الدِفَاع الجوّي المَلكِيَّ السُّعُودِي) is the aerial defense service branch of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces. It is fourth of the five service branches of the MOD.[2] [3] It has its HQ in Riyadh, where there is also an elaborate underground command facility that co-ordinates the Arabian Kingdom's advanced "Peace Shield" radar and air defense system, with an estimated 40,000 active duty military personnel in 2015.[4] [5] Along with the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF), it has responsibility for securing the skies of Saudi Arabia.[6]
Towards the end of the 1970s, a paradigm shift occurred with the SAAF with the making of the RSAD Corps as a separate and equivalent service, equal to the Army, Navy, and Air Forces. It is no longer subordinate to the RSLF. The impetus behind this shift is the ever-changing threat. The concern by the Kingdom of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their mechanism of delivery, resulted in the early understanding by the MoD of the requirement to transform, and thus the creation of the RSADF.[7]
Between 2017 and 2020, the RSAF claimed the interception of 311 cruise missiles and 343 suicide drones but failed to stop some of the attacks against the strategic Saudi sites of the Houthi movement and Iran.[8]
Source:[10]
| Weapon | Origin | 1990 | 2000 | 2005 | 2006 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +RSAD Inventory[11] | Anti-Aircraft Artillery | ||||||
| M163 VADS | United States | 92 | 92 | 92 | 92 | ||
| AMX-30SA | France | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | ||
| Oerlikon GDF | Switzerland | 128 | 128 | 128 | 128 | ||
| Bofors 40mm L/70 | Sweden | 150 | 150 | 150 | 70 | ||
| Surface-to-Air Missiles | |||||||
| Shahine | France | 141 | 141 | 141 | 141 | ||
| I-HAWK | United States | 128 | 128 | 128 | 128 | ||
| Crotale | France | 0 | 40 | 40 | 40 | ||
| FIM-92A Stinger/Avenger | United States | 0 | 0 | 400 | 400 | ||
| FIM-43 Redeye | United States | 0 | 0 | 500 | 500 | ||
| Mistral | France | 0 | 0 | 500 | 500 | ||
| PAC-2 Patriot | United States | 0 | 0 | 0 | 640 | ||