Founding and early expansion The Bahrain Defence Force, which itself was formed in 1968, just before the country became independent from
United Kingdom in 1971, first organized an air wing in May 1976 at
Riffa Air Base, which received its first aircraft, four
Bo 105 helicopters, in February 1977. This occurred after Bahrain sent the air wing's future members to receive training from allied countries in 1974. The small force grew gradually, receiving 12
Augusta Bell Twin Huey helicopters in 1978, and in the mid-1980s the air wing became the new Bahrain Amiri Air Force (BAAF). In the early years the Bahraini Air Force participated in training with other countries and helped recover
U.S. Navy sailors after the
USS Stark incident during the
Iran–Iraq War. Because of regional conflicts like the Iran–Iraq War and the
Gulf War, during the 1980s and 1990s Bahrain expanded its military, including its Air Force, with the assistance of the
United States. In 1985 Bahrain acquired its first fighter jets, the
F-5, and established the
6th Fighter Squadron at
Muharraq Air Base. After Bahraini air crews became familiar with the F-5, they underwent training to prepare to use the
F-16 Fighting Falcon. The first Bahraini F-16s, the F-16C/D variants, were acquired in 1990. Before this, the country considered several American and European advanced fighter aircraft, including the
F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon,
F/A-18 Hornet,
Mirage 2000, and
Tornado. Bahraini pilots were trained on F-16 operations at
MacDill Air Force Base in Florida in 1989, and the first F-16 was formally handed over to the BAAF in March of that year. The first four F-16s were sent to Bahrain, flown by Bahraini pilots, in May 1990. Around this time the construction of
Isa Air Base was complete, A second batch of ten F-16s commenced delivery in 2000 under the Peace Crown II program. The new aircraft represented a further increase in the air force's combat capabilities, as they were equipped to carry the
AMRAAM missile, first used by the
USAF in 1992. Air-to-air armament had been limited to the short-range
AIM-9M Sidewinder missile and internal cannon through the Gulf War. After the war, the country began to acquire more advanced weapons, including the
AIM-7M Sparrow radar-guided air-to-air missile and
LANTIRN navigation and targeting pod for air-to-ground weapons that would also be acquired such as the GBU-10/12
laser guided bombs and
AGM-65D/G Maverick air-to-ground missiles. After Bahrain became a monarchy on 14 February 2002, the BAAF was renamed the Royal Bahraini Air Force. Deliveries commenced on 1 December 2009. A single
Sikorsky S-92 VVIP helicopter was purchased by the Air Force in 2007 and placed in service with the Bahrain Royal Flight. Bahrain would again engage in combat operations as part of the Saudi Arabia-led
Operation Decisive Storm, operating from bases in Saudi Arabia against
Houthi rebel forces in
Yemen during March and April 2015. Initially, fifteen F-16 aircraft were deployed as the RBAF contribution to combat forces in the operation. Bahrain's forces remained in Saudi Arabia in assistance of the coalition through 2015. An RBAF F-16 was lost when it crashed after a technical problem in December 2015. The Bahraini Air Force ended its participation in the operation in Yemen in February 2016. In 2018, Lockheed Martin was awarded a $1.1 billion contract to produce 16 F-16 Viper Block 70 fighter aircraft for Bahrain, the U.S. Department of Defense said in a release. Work under the $1,124,545,002 fixed-price-incentive-firm contract is expected to be complete by 30 September 2023, the Friday, 22 June release said. In October, the government of Bahrain announced that it had finalized a $3.8 billion deal with Lockheed for the F-16 purchase. Bahrain Royal Air Force commander Major General Shaikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Khalifa said the Gulf state hoped the first planes will be delivered in 2021. The sale of F-16 Vipers and related equipment to Bahrain was first approved by the U.S. State Department in 2016 during the Obama administration but it was delayed over human rights concerns. President Donald Trump dropped the human rights conditions last year. The State Department then approved the sale of 19 aircraft worth $2.78 billion, and another $1.1 billion to upgrade Bahrain's existing fleet of 20 F-16s to the Viper configuration in September 2017. The proposed sales also include additional equipment and support. Hamid said in October that the purchase of the other three aircraft was still a possibility. During the
2026 Iran war, the RBAF intercepted
Iranian missiles and
drones launched at Bahrain. On 1 April 2026, an RBAF F-16 Block 70 shot down two Iranian drones after they got past ground-based air defenses, becoming the first air-to-air kills of the Block 70.
Incidents and accidents • 27 September 2003: F-16C Block 40 Fighting Falcon (s/n RBAF 204; c/n AC-12) crashed in the
Persian Gulf, north of Bahrain. This was the first F-16 loss for Bahrain and attributed to the pilot becoming disoriented during maneuvers. • 30 December 2015: An F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed in
Jizan Province,
Saudi Arabia while supporting the
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. The pilot was recovered safely and the crash was attributed to technical issues. ==Organization==