Office of the Program Manager Saudi Arabian National Guard Modernization Program
Encyclopedia
Mission
Office of the Program Manager, Saudi Arabian National Guard Modernization Program (OPM-SANG or just OPM for short) is a Security Assistance Organization of the United States ArmyUnited States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
with the primary mission of managing the modernization effort of the Saudi Arabian National Guard
Saudi Arabian National Guard
The Saudi Arabian National Guard is a separate military force of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is not part of the Saudi Arabian Defence Forces, due to its specific role as a counterbalance to the regular military. It serves both as defence force against external threats and as a security force...
(SANG).
The United States provides technical and contract supervisory support to SANG through functions such as organization, training, equipment, procurement, construction, maintenance, supply, administration, and medical programs.
All aspects of SANG's force expansion have direct involvement from OPM personnel with the goal of developing a total army.
The head of OPM, the Program Manager
Program Manager
Program Manager is the shell of Windows 3.x and Windows NT 3.x operating systems. This shell exposed a task-oriented graphical user interface , consisting of icons arranged into program groups. It replaced MS-DOS Executive, a file manager, as the default Windows shell.The program derives from the...
(PM), exercises principal authority over the planning, direction, execution, and control of the SANG modernization effort. This effort covers all elements, missions, functions, and requirements of SANG. The PM facilitates the increased participation of SANG in all aspects of the program with the goal of SANG eventually having the capability to unilaterially initiate and sustain modern organizations and systems.
History
OPM-SANG was established in 1973 in an agreement signed by then Saudi Arabian Crown PrinceCrown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is the King of Saudi Arabia. He succeeded to the throne on 1 August 2005 upon the death of his half-brother, King Fahd. When Crown Prince, he governed Saudi Arabia as regent from 1998 to 2005...
and the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in response to a request from former King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz. The contract to modernize the Saudi Arabian National Guard was awarded in 1975 to Vinnell Corporation
Vinnell
The Vinnell Corporation is an international private military company based in the United States specializing in military training, logistics, and support in the form of weapon systems maintenance and management consultancy. They conducted training of portions of the Saudi Arabian National Guard as...
.
From 1975 to 1983, OPM helped SANG to organize, equip, and train a separate infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
brigade consisting of four combined arms
Combined arms
Combined arms is an approach to warfare which seeks to integrate different branches of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects...
battalions mounted on V-150 armored vehicles, an artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
battalion, a direct support Logistics Support Battalion (LSB), an engineering company, and a signal company. Additionally, a general support logistics base, Logistics Base Command (LBC), and the National Guard Military School (NGMS) were established. A second infantry brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
was modernized and continued efforts in the NGMS and LBC occurred from 1982–1987.
OPM began a medical modernization program under a second Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 1981. Hospital Corporation of America
Hospital Corporation of America
Hospital Corporation of America is the largest private operator of health care facilities in the world, It is based in Nashville, Tennessee and is widely considered to be the single largest factor in making that city a hotspot for healthcare enterprise.-History:The founders of HCA include Jack C....
operated the 500-bed acute care facility for SANG in Riyadh under OPM supervision from 1982–1987. SANG assumed responsibiliy for supervision of the contractor in 1987 with OPM acting as an advisor.
OPM managed the sustainment of the two mechanized
Mechanized
Mechanized refers to the use of machines. Related articles:*Mechanised agriculture*Mechanization* For "Mechanized artillery", see Self-propelled artillery* For "Mechanized force" and "Mechanized warfare", see Armoured warfare*Mechanized infantry...
brigades while continuing to develop the logistics base and school system infrastructure from 1988 to 1990. Additionally, OPM began to advise the SANG National Headquarters, organized a new signal battalion, organized three new field medical companies, and advised the SANG Special Battalion, facilities engineers, and data processing activities.
Six months prior to the Khobar Towers bombing
Khobar Towers bombing
The Khobar Towers bombing was a terrorist attack on part of a housing complex in the city of Khobar, Saudi Arabia, located near the national oil company headquarters of Dhahran. In 1996, Khobar Towers was being used to house foreign military personnel.Al-Qaeda has incorrectly been described by...
, the OPM-SANG headquarters was bombed which lead to heightened threat level at Khobar. Both bombings have been attributed to Hezbollah Al-Hejaz.
See also
- Saudi Arabian National GuardSaudi Arabian National GuardThe Saudi Arabian National Guard is a separate military force of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is not part of the Saudi Arabian Defence Forces, due to its specific role as a counterbalance to the regular military. It serves both as defence force against external threats and as a security force...
- United States Military Training Mission to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (USMTM)