Bahrain check

Over the past six years, the Royal Bahraini Air Force has been on quite a spending spree – 16 Lockheed Martin Block 70 F-16C/Ds, 12 Bell AH-1Z Zulu Cobras, three Bell 505 training helicopters, two ex-RAF Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules as well as the Raytheon Patriot system.

Major general Shaikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Khalifah told Arabian Aerospace: “All these purchases need to be paid for so that might be it for a while!”

The commander also said that the nine Block 70 F-16s, including three two-seaters delivered by the time of the show, were being used to train personnel, and they were not yet operational, but that should happen in the near future.

It was disappointing that there was no Block 70 on display, and that they were not even included in the RBAF formation fly-by of three F-16s, three F-5s and three Hawks.

At the last Bahrain International Air Show in 2022, the AH-1Zs had also just been delivered, and while there wasn’t one in the RBAF static display, an official symbolic handover of the helicopter in the US area of the static display took place.

Obviously the RBAF wasn’t ready for that yet, as the RBAF Commander said: “The project is not completed yet, and we still need more equipment. Our older but capable Block 40s have been fitted with very advanced equipment [in an upgrade], are still operational and we get a lot out of them. Once we have finished with the introduction of the Block 70s, we might alter the role of the Block 40s.”

Whether that role will mean an upgrade is unlikely, the near billion dollar cost probably forbids that a time when there are other more important issues, like defending itself from Iran and its militias.

The new Block 70s house the Northrop Grumman APG-83 scaleable agile beam radar (SABR) active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar; a new modular mission computer (MMC) and a large centre pedestal display with improved programmable displays amongst other things.

There also provisions for use of highly-capable US weapons, like the Raytheon AIM-9X Sidewinder AAMs; Raytheon AIM-120C advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAMs); Raytheon AGM-154 joint stand-off weapons (JSOWs); Boeing AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles and Raytheon AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missiles (HARMs).

It is unclear what weapons are involved in the deal, but the above were included in the 2017 US Defense Security Co-operation Agreement notification to US Congress. The Block 70s will undoubtedly be a valuable asset.

The RBAF static display included two variants of Cobra this year, one was an AH-1FB Cobra upgraded by Turkish Aerospace Industries during 2018-20 which went largely unnoticed by many.

It came at a time when relations between Turkey and Bahrain along with Saudi Arabia and UAE, were not in a good place because of the different sides they took in the Libyan civil war. As a result, neither the RBAF or TAI were willing to discuss the project.

Turkish Aerospace upgraded 18 AH-1Fs agreed in June 2015, that draws upon avionics systems already operational on Turkey’s T129 advanced attack and reconnaissance (ATAK) helicopter.

The work includes integration of the AselFLIR 300T electro-optical, reconnaissance and targeting turret into the attack helicopter’s nose, which was covered up during the static display.

The deal also included an enhanced weapons package that is believed to include the 7.62mm CIRIT missiles and UMTAS long range anti-tank guided missile. Parked alongside the new AH-1Z, which only had 27 hours on the airframe, you could certainly see the generational difference with the shape of the 1960s era AH-1FB.

Another new helicopter in the static display was the five-seater Bell 505 training helicopter, one of the three that was delivered in March 2023. The RBAF Commander said that there were plans for more, but no contract had been signed.

They are being used to train new pilots for the RBAF’s large fleet of helicopters, that includes around 30 AH-1s, nine UH-60Ms and a small number of AB212s.