Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces
| Royal Army of Oman الجيش السلطاني العُماني |
|
|---|---|
| Founded | 1907 |
| Service branches |
Royal Army of Oman Royal Air Force of Oman Royal Navy of Oman Royal Guard of Oman Royal Oman Police |
| Headquarters | Muscat |
| Leadership | |
| Supreme Commander-in-Chief | Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said |
| Minister of Defense | Badr bin Saud al Busaidi |
| Chief of staff | Lt. Gen Ahmed bin Harith Al Nabhani |
| Manpower | |
| Active personnel | 72,000 |
| Reserve personnel | 20,000 |
| Expenditures | |
| Budget | $9.3 billion (2013) |
| Percent of GDP | 11.5% |
| Industry | |
| Foreign suppliers |
 United Kingdom Iran United States India Turkey Saudi Arabia Russia Pakistan China Sweden Yemen
|
The Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces (SOAF — Arabic: القوات المسلحة لسلطان عمان, transliterated: al-Quwāt ul-Musalḥatu as-Sulṭān ‘Umān) are the Royal Army of Oman (Arabic: الجيش العماني, transliterated: al-Jaīsh al-‘Umānī), Royal Navy of Oman, Royal Air Force of Oman and other defence forces of the Sultanate of Oman. Since their formal establishment in the early 1950s, with British assistance they have twice overcome insurgencies which have threatened the integrity or social structure of the state, and more recently have contributed contingents or facilities to coalitions formed to protect the Persian Gulf states.
Oman has a military history which dates back to the 7th century. At the time, the forces of the Azd tribe were powerful enough to help the prophet Mohammed's companion Abu Bakr the War of al Mortadeen. It is said that even before that, the Azd tribe, led by Malek bin Faham, were able to defeat a Persian force which controlled Oman at that time.
The second known Omani army force was raised during the Yarubid dynasty, who forced the Portuguese out of the country in 1650. During the rule of the Yarubi dynasty, fortified buildings covered the country from the north of Musandam to the south of Dhofar, making Oman a great power in the Persian Gulf.
During the later al Busaidi dynasty, (mainly during the time of Said bin Sultan), Oman was a substantial empire with a very powerful military force, making Oman one of the greatest forces in the Indian Ocean, second only to the United Kingdom. After Said bin Sultan's death, political conflicts in Oman forced Oman to close in upon itself, and to transform from a powerful empire to a relatively poor country.
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Wikipedia