RIYADH- The Saudi royal court has officially confirmed the passing of 62-year-old Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The statement mentioned that funeral prayers for the late royal will take place at the Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh.
While the announcement did not reveal the cause of Prince Talal’s death, reports suggest that he was allegedly piloting the Saudi Arabian Air Force’s F-15SA fighter plane on December 7, which subsequently crashed in Dhahran.
Saudi Price Died in a Crash
As reported by Lebanon’s Al Mashhad news outlet, Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz met his tragic fate during a training exercise with the Air Force on that Thursday.
Born in 1961, Prince Talal was a descendant of the first Saudi monarch, King Abdulaziz, and the son of Prince Bandar.
Holding the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Royal Saudi Air Force, he also served as the assistant intelligence chief at the General Intelligence Presidency (GIP), the Saudi intelligence agency, from 2004 to 2012.
Royal Saudi Air Force
The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) presently boasts around 1,106 aircraft, 40,000 active personnel, 25,000 recruits, 9 wings, +99 squadrons, and a dedicated Special Forces unit focused on combat search and rescue operations.
Over time, the RSAF has evolved from a predominantly defensive military force to one with advanced offensive capabilities, maintaining the world’s second-largest fleet of F-15s after the United States.
The Boeing F-15 Eagle currently serves as the backbone of the RSAF, supplemented by the significant presence of the Panavia Tornado. Notably, the Tornado and various other aircraft were procured through the Al Yamamah contracts with British Aerospace (now BAE Systems).
In the 1990s, the RSAF placed orders for a variety of weapons, including Sea Eagle anti-ship missiles, laser-guided bombs, and gravity bombs. The Al-Salam agreement, succeeding the Al Yamamah deal, entails the delivery of 48 Eurofighter Typhoons by BAE.
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