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F-15E Armed With Drone Killing Laser-Guided Rockets Appears In Middle East
We now have a picture showing a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle down-range in the Middle East with an air-to-air loadout that includes six seven-shot 70mm rocket pods, as well as four AIM-9X and four AIM-120 missiles. This comes a week after TWZ was the first to report on testing of the laser-guided 70mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets as a new armament option for the F-15E. As we noted at that time, the exact loadout we're now seeing on a deployed Strike Eagle turns the jet into a counter-drone and cruise missile 'weapons truck' with a whopping 50 engagement opportunities, not counting the internal gun. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) posted the picture in question, seen at the top of this story, today on social media with a basic caption offering no additional context. TWZ had reached out to CENTCOM and the Air Force for more information. U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) May 30, 2025 There are indications that the image was taken at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, which has long been a known hub for U.S. F-15E operations in the region. Picture posted by USCENTCOM Twitter account showing an F-15E with an anti-UAV is: 31.827123, 36.797503 (Muwaffaq Salti AB, Jordan.F-15E is 87-0210 from 389th Fighter Squadron, Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. — Evergreen Intel (@ 2025-05-30T17:47:36.641Z The image of the rocket-toting F-15E that had emerged last week via social media channels associated with The Merge military aviation podcast was taken at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, but it remains unclear when. 'The Eglin AFB test community through strong partnerships have aggressively conducted integrated test of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System,' Gabriel Myers, a spokesperson for the 96th Test Wing at Eglin, previously told TWZ when asked for more information about that picture. 'By working at speed to ensure advanced capabilities have the intended effects, we increase warfighter readiness and lethality to meet the global demands of the joint force.' The U.S. military still does not appear to have officially announced the integration of laser-guided APKWS II onto the F-15E. Originally designed as an air-to-ground munition, APKWS II is cleared for use on Air Force F-16C/D Vipers and A-10 Warthogs, as well as U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers and F/A-18C/D Hornets on the fixed-wing side. The precision-guided rockets are also part of the arsenals available for Marine AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom helicopters, as well as U.S. Navy MH-60R/S Seahawks and U.S. Army AH-64D/E Apaches. Each APKWS II rocket consists of a laser guidance package inserted between a standard 70mm rocket motor and one of a variety of warhead options. Regardless, it is not at all surprising that an F-15E with the heavy rocket loadout has now emerged in the Middle East in an operational context. As we previously wrote: 'The Strike Eagle and APKWS II combo's potential in the air-to-air role that is perhaps most exciting. As we noted earlier, Air Force F-16s first began employing the laser-guided rockets in an anti-air optimized configuration to shoot down Houthi drones during operations over and around the Red Sea last year, which TWZ was first to report. The Air Force had announced back in 2019 that it had demonstrated APKWS II's ability to be used as an air-to-air weapon in a test wherein an F-16 downed a surrogate for a subsonic cruise missile, something we were also first to report on. APKWS II is also combat-proven in the surface-to-air role against drones, as well as in air-ground modes and surface-to-surface modes.' U.S. Fighter aircraft shoot down Iran-backed Houthi one-way-attack drones with AGR-20 FALCO Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) Laser Guided 2.75" Rockets.#HouthisAreTerrorists — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 19, 2025 'Since January, F-16s have been observed flying the Middle East carrying air-to-air loadouts that include one or two seven-shot 70mm rocket pods, as well as traditional air-to-air missiles and LITENING targeting pods. This had already underscored the magazine depth benefits of APKWS II. A typical air-to-air for the Viper consists of six air-to-air missiles. Just having a pair of rocket pods on one pylon effectively triples the number of anti-air engagement opportunities per sortie. The F-15E with six seven-shot rocket pods, along with eight air-to-air missiles, goes far beyond that capacity.' … 'Together with aerial refueling support, an F-15E armed with APKWS II rockets and traditional air-to-air missiles could provide a far more persistent counter-air screen with a huge magazine depth against drones and some cruise missile types. This kind of general scenario is what Air Force Strike Eagle crews found themselves in on multiple occasions while defending Israel from Iranian attacks last year, during which, running out of missiles became the limiting factor.' The F-15E also has the advantage of being a two-seat aircraft, which allows the pilot in front to focus on flying the plane while the back-seater engages targets in the air or on the ground and performs other tasks. It is worth mentioning that Muwaffaq Salti was a major staging point for the aforementioned F-15E sorties in the defense of Israel last year. Stunning accounts of those operations have since emerged. This includes at least one instance in which a Strike Eagle crew switched to the jet's 20mm M61 Vulcan cannon after running out of missiles, but was unable to shoot down anything with the gun. It would make sense that an APKWS II capability for the F-15E, particularly for use in the air-to-air role, would have been rushed into service after those experiences, and subsequently fielded to Strike Eagle units deployed in Jordan. APKWS II is limited in the air-to-air role to engaging non-reactionary, low-performance targets that fly along relatively steady courses like one-way-attack drones and subsonic cruise missiles. Currently, targets have to be manually designated, or 'lazed,' throughout the entire course of the engagement, as well. APKWS II's prime contractor, BAE Systems, is now working on a dual-mode guidance package that incorporates an infrared seeker that is designed to offer a pseudo-fire-and-forget capability to make it easier to move on from engaging on target to the next, as you can read more about here. At the same time, the aforementioned magazine depth, together with the lower unit cost of an APKWS II rocket compared to traditional air-to-air missiles, offers clear benefits. The latest variants of the AIM-120 cost around $1 million apiece, while current-generation AIM-9Xs each have a price tag around $450,000. The most expensive part of an APKWS II rocket is the guidance section, which costs between $15,000 and $20,000, with the rocket motor and warhead adding a few thousand dollars more to the total price point. As shown by the F-15E in the newly released picture, air-to-air loadouts incorporating APKWS II can also still include air-to-air missiles for prosecuting more demanding threats. It remains likely that APKWS II will be integrated onto further fixed-wing aircraft in the future for use in the air-to-air role, such as the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. The Air Force's F-15E Strike Eagle fleet has now gotten a major firepower boost, especially for hunting down incoming drones and cruise missiles. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
F-15E Spotted Packing Big Laser-Guided Rocket Arsenal Ideal For Drone Hunting
A picture has emerged showing a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle loaded with at least three seven-shot 70mm rocket pods under its left wing. If the jet had three more pods on the right side, this would amount to a whopping 42 rockets, which could be carried together with eight traditional air-to-air missiles. Such a loadout would turn the F-15E in a flying counter-drone and cruise missile arsenal ship capable of an incredible 50 engagement opportunities, minus the gun. The Air Force has already proven the extreme value of laser-guided 70mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets in the air-to-air role in combat on the F-16, news TWZ first broke earlier this year and has continued to follow very closely. Integrating APKWS II into the F-15E's arsenal isn't surprising, especially considering how active these aircraft have been in countering lower-performing aerial threats. The picture of the rocket-armed F-15E, seen below, first appeared on social media accounts for The Merge, a military aviation podcast and associated newsletter, yesterday. 'An Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle testing laser-guided rockets was spotted with a 6-pod 42-rocket loadout in flight test,' The Merge wrote in an accompanying post on Instagram. That's a beast-mode-for-drones loadout. — The Merge (@MergeNewsletter) May 22, 2025 Though The Merge says the aircraft was carrying six rocket pods at the time, only three are clearly visible in the image on the jet's left underwing pylon, but a symmetric load makes perfect sense. Pods full of laser-guided APKWS II rockets are relatively easy to spot since the weapons are longer than unguided 70mm types and their noses protrude noticeably from the front as a result. As it exists now, APKWS II consists primarily of a laser guidance section sandwiched between one of a variety of warhead types and a standard 70mm rocket motor. In addition to the rocket pods, the Strike Eagle has an inert AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) without control fins and a flight test data pod under its left wing. An AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) and an AN/AAQ-13 navigation pod (which incorporates a forward-looking infrared sensor and a terrain-following radar) are seen loaded on the stations under the jet's left and right air intakes, respectively. The F-15E seen in the picture also has an 'ET' tail code, reflecting an aircraft assigned to the 96th Test Wing headquartered at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. 'I can confirm the pic was taken here at Eglin AFB,' Gabriel Myers, a spokesperson for the 96th Test Wing, told TWZ when asked for more information about the image of the rocket-toting F-15E. 'The Eglin AFB test community through strong partnerships have aggressively conducted integrated test of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System. By working at speed to ensure advanced capabilities have the intended effects, we increase warfighter readiness and lethality to meet the global demands of the joint force.' When the F-15E might be cleared to operationally employ APKWS II rockets is unclear. 'Unfortunately, we can't speak to specific timelines [for the test work], but we can say it was done rapidly,' Myers continued. In U.S. service, on the fixed-wing side, the precision-guided rockets have been integrated onto Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers and F/A-18C/D Hornets and U.S. Air Force F-16C/D Vipers and A-10 Warthogs. Marine AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom helicopters, as well as U.S. Navy MH-60R/S Seahawks and U.S. Army AH-64D/E Apaches, can also employ APKWS II. A full air-to-air loadout for the F-15E currently consists of eight missiles. Four missiles – either short-range AIM-9 Sidewinders or AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) – can be loaded on launch rails on either side of the Strike Eagle's two underwing pylons. Two more AIM-120s can be carried on pylons on each of the conformal fuel tanks (CFT) attached to the sides of the fuselage. The jets can also carry a wide array of air-to-ground munitions and other stores on the pylons under their wings, on the CFTs, and on their ventral centerline hardpoint. Adding APKWS II to the F-15E's already very expansive arsenal would give the jet an additional lower-cost tool for precisely engaging a variety of ground targets, as well. These can include light armored vehicles. As the newly emerged picture highlights in showing 21 engagement opportunities on a single pylon, the laser-guided rockets offer significant benefits when it comes to magazine depth. But it's the Strike Eagle and APKWS II combo's potential in the air-to-air role that is perhaps most exciting. As we noted earlier, Air Force F-16s first began employing the laser-guided rockets in an anti-air optimized configuration to shoot down Houthi drones during operations over and around the Red Sea last year, which TWZ was first to report. The Air Force had announced back in 2019 that it had demonstrated APKWS II's ability to be used as an air-to-air weapon in a test wherein an F-16 downed a surrogate for a subsonic cruise missile, something we were also first to report on. APKWS II is also combat-proven in the surface-to-air role against drones, as well as in air-ground modes and surface-to-surface modes. U.S. Fighter aircraft shoot down Iran-backed Houthi one-way-attack drones with AGR-20 FALCO Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) Laser Guided 2.75" Rockets.#HouthisAreTerrorists — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 19, 2025 Since January, F-16s have been observed flying the Middle East carrying air-to-air loadouts that include one or two seven-shot 70mm rocket pods, as well as traditional air-to-air missiles and LITENING targeting pods. This had already underscored the magazine depth benefits of APKWS II. A typical air-to-air for the Viper consists of six air-to-air missiles. Just having a pair of rocket pods on one pylon effectively triples the number of anti-air engagement opportunities per sortie. The F-15E with six seven-shot rocket pods, along with eight air-to-air missiles, goes far beyond that capacity. APKWS II is also a significantly lower-cost anti-air weapon than traditional air-to-air missiles in U.S. military inventory today. The APKWS II guidance kit, which is the most expensive part of the munition, has a unit cost of around $15,000 to $20,000. The warhead and motor add a few thousand dollars more to the total unit price. Current generation AIM-9X Sidewinders each cost in the region of $450,000, while the latest AIM-120 variants are $1 million or more apiece. Even with the air-to-air specific upgrades developed for APKWS II, it does still has limitations when employed against aerial threats, as TWZ has noted in the past in the context of F-16 counter-drone missions: 'In an air-to-air engagement, the laser designator in the LITENING pod could be used to 'laze' or designate the target. LITENING's sensor turret can be slaved to the radar on the aircraft carrying it, or vice versa. So-called buddy lasing, where one aircraft designates the target for another, could also be useful in this case, especially given the speed differential between typical Houthi drones and F-16s. One jet could keep the target steadily lazed while the other makes its attack run.' 'APKWS IIs are usable against drones, as well as subsonic cruise missiles, in the first place because those are relatively steady, non-reactionary, low-performance targets. The rockets are not dogfighting weapons.' BAE Systems, the prime contractor for the APKWS II, is now developing a dual-mode guidance package that adds a passive infrared seeker to give the rocket a quasi-fire-and-forget capability. A laser designator would still be needed to provide initial cueing, but the launch platform would be able to move much more rapidly from engaging one target to the next with the addition of the infrared guidance mode, as you can read more about here. Pairing F-15E with APKWS II, even just with the guided rocket's existing capabilities, would offer additional advantages in the air-to-air role given the range and endurance of the Strike Eagle, as well as its substantial overall payload capacity. The F-15E is also a two-seat aircraft, which allows the pilot to remain fully focused on flying the aircraft while the back-seater handles targeting duties. Together with aerial refueling support, an F-15E armed with APKWS II rockets and traditional air-to-air missiles could provide a far more persistent counter-air screen with a huge magazine depth against drones and some cruise missile types. This kind of general scenario is what Air Force Strike Eagle crews found themselves in on multiple occasions while defending Israel from Iranian attacks last year, during which, running out of missiles became the limiting factor. Specifically, while responding to Iran's drone and missile attacks on Israel in April 2024, F-15Es had to land to rearm while threats were still flying overhead. At least one Strike Eagle crew switched to their aircraft's 20mm M61 Vulcan cannon after running out of missiles, but was unable to shoot anything down. 'The drone war is kind of like a video game. You just gotta get the jets up in the air and position them correctly for an intercept. The radar will easily see them after they're launched and then it's just how many missiles you have versus how many drones are launched. The technical aspect of detecting them and downing them is easy,' Daren 'Shotgun' Sorenson, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who flew F-15Es, told TWZ in an interview last summer. 'It's easy work. You can do it all day long until you run out of missiles.' The Air Force also recently sent a detachment of F-15Es to the highly strategic island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, explicitly to provide force protection for forces currently there, including B-52 bombers, a deployment TWZ was first to report. This only further underscores the key role Strike Eagles are already playing in shielding high-value assets, especially from drones and cruise missiles. All of this also applies at least equally, if not more so, to the Air Force's incoming F-15EX Eagle II aircraft. The F-15EX is the latest and most capable variant to emerge in the extended Strike Eagle family, and is expected to be used primarily in the homeland air defense role in U.S. service, at least initially. Last year, TWZ laid out in detail how the Strike Eagle's performance in the anti-air role in the Middle East had bolstered the case for the EX in U.S. and Israeli service. Indonesia also plans to buy F-15s derived from the EX variant, and other foreign customers, including Poland, could be on the horizon. 'The proliferation of one-way attack drones is driving a massive demand signal for counter-UAS capabilities,' The Merge also told TWZ directly when asked about the picture of the rocket-armed Strike Eagle. 'The cost exchange afforded by APKWS rockets–and the flexibility and magazine depth by putting them on the F-15E/X–should make a meaningful difference.' Adding APKWS II to the F-15E's arsenal, especially for air-to-air use, could be a factor in ongoing debates about the future of the Air Force's Strike Eagles, as well. Congress recently blocked the service, at least until 2027, from pursuing plans to retire more than half of the heavily in-demand Strike Eagle fleet. It would also not be surprising at all to see APKWS II join already growing air-to-air loadouts available to U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. A year ago, Houthi drone threats in and around the Red Sea had already prompted that service to launch a crash program to increase the number of AIM-9Xs a Super Hornet could carry on a single sortie. The Navy has since officially dubbed F/A-18E/Fs armed with five AIM-120s and four AIM-9Xs as 'Murder Hornets.' Regardless of the threat of partial retirement, many F-15Es remain in Air Force service in the coming years, there are clear signs the jets are now in line to get an important firepower boost, including when it comes to shooting down drones, in the form of APKWS II. Howard Altman and Tyler Rogoway contributed to this story. Special thanks to The Merge for sharing the picture of the rocket-armed F-15E and additional information. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
F-15 Eagles Win Big In Supersized Defense Spending Bill
Tactical airpower, and specifically the F-15E Strike Eagle and F-15EX Eagle II, are big beneficiaries of recently proposed legislation put forward by the Republican leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. Of the roughly $150 billion in potential extra investments into defense, the spending package includes $7.2 billion set aside for tactical aircraft procurement and modernization. It should be noted that the Democrats still have the opportunity to amend the bill before it is sent to the House Budget Committee, although the packaging of the deal under the 'reconciliation' process is designed to speed its progress and avoid a filibuster. Of the $7.2 billion for tactical airpower, the biggest winner is the F-15EX, with this program earmarked to get an additional $3.1 billion 'to increase production.' The F-15EX, which at this stage of its career is primarily an air superiority platform, was approved for full-rate production in June of last year. Most recently, the Air Force had said it wants to buy 98 F-15EX aircraft, although the numbers have been subject to various changes throughout the life of the program. The 98-aircraft fleet is just about sufficient for five operational squadrons of 18 aircraft, plus a handful of training and test aircraft. Previously, there were plans to cap the number of F-15EXs at 144 jets. We have reached out to the Air Force for clarity on the wording in the bill, since it's not immediately clear if the funds allocated are for additional aircraft production, beyond the 98, or whether they will be used to accelerate production of the aircraft already in the program of record. The unit cost of an F-15EX has been pegged at between $90 and $95 million in recent years. If the money in question is strictly for more airframes, it would buy between 32 and 34 jets, but funds for additional personnel and infrastructure would also have to come from other sources. In addition to being good news for the F-15EX, the proposed spending plan includes $127.46 million 'to prevent the retirement of F–15E aircraft.' What exactly this entails is immediately clear, as the annual defense policy bill, or National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), for the 2025 Fiscal Year, which was signed into law in December 2024, already blocked the retirement of any F-15Es Strike Eagles until October 1, 2027, at the earliest. That came in response to an Air Force plan to retire 119 of its 281 F-15Es, or roughly half of the Strike Eagle fleet, by Fiscal Year 2028, which quickly proved to be controversial, to say the least. The Fiscal Year 2025 NDAA does make exceptions for 'individual F-15E aircraft that the Secretary of the Air Force determines, on a case by case basis, to be no longer mission capable and uneconomical to repair because of aircraft accidents, mishaps, or excessive material degradation and non-airworthiness status of certain aircraft.' Additional funding could help the Air Force pay to maintain the F-15Es it is now legally required to keep in inventory, or avoid divesting individual jets it might otherwise decide are too costly to keep flying. It might also allow the service to upgrade and sustain the aircraft beyond 2027. The F-15Es that had been on the chopping block were the surviving examples powered by the older Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220E turbofan engines, with the remaining 99 aircraft being equipped with more powerful F100-PW-229s. As far as the Air Force is concerned, it needs to retire older F-15Es to help free up resources for its future modernization plans, but lawmakers have been concerned about dwindling numbers of available tactical aircraft if this were to happen. At the same time, the F-15Es are arguably the Air Force's most in-demand tactical jets thanks to their highly desirable blend of speed, range, payload capacity, crew size, and other capabilities. Furthermore, with the F-15EX entering service primarily in the single-pilot air-to-air role, there's no like-for-like replacement in the pipeline. In the meantime, work continues to upgrade the F-15E, with the most significant recent development involving the installation of a sophisticated new radar warning and electronic warfare suite, the AN/ALQ-250 Eagle Passive/Active Warning Survivability System, or EPAWSS, which you can read more about here. Aside from funds for the F-15EX — the Air Force's newest in-service fighter — and the well-established F-15E, the newly proposed spending package also adds funds for next-generation airpower programs. Both the F-47 crewed sixth-generation fighter and the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone program get more funds to accelerate development and production: $678 million and $400 million, respectively. The Navy's sixth-generation fighter, the F/A-XX, also gets a boost from lawmakers, with another $500 million to accelerate that program. In terms of older assets, the bill on the table now also allocates just over $361 million to prevent the retirement of older block F-22s. Like the F-15E, the F-22 has long been threatened with axing a portion of its fleet as the Air Force seeks to prioritize other programs. In the past, the Air Force has argued that upgrading its 32 older Block 20 F-22s — almost a fifth of the current Raptor fleet — would be prohibitively expensive, but this proposal has been met with notable pushback. Last summer, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) made clear its concerns about the Air Force's plans to discard those older F-22s in a report that we discussed at the time. Beyond tactical jets, the proposed legislation includes $4.5 billion to help accelerate the B-21 Raider stealth bomber program. There has been growing talk in recent months about potentially increasing purchases of the bombers beyond the current program of record for 100 aircraft. This also follows Northrop Grumman's disclosure earlier this month of a $477 million loss on the B-21, which was described as 'largely relating to higher manufacturing costs.' The company announced a nearly $1.2 billion loss on the Radier last year, which was blamed on a combination of 'macroeconomic disruptions' and 'higher [than] projected manufacturing costs.' Elsewhere, the bill includes $440 million to increase C-130J production and $474 million to increase EA-37B Compass Call production. Finally, lawmakers propose to allocate $160 million to accelerate nacelle improvements for the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. Returning to the F-15EX and F-15E portions of the reconciliation bill, there remain questions about exactly how these funds will be used. In particular, there is a lack of clarity about F-15EX production numbers and how long a portion of the F-15E fleet will be protected from retirement. Overall, however, lawmakers have firmly made their position clear when it comes to the continued utility of the two closely related tactical air assets. Contact the author: thomas@
India.com
22-04-2025
- Politics
- India.com
How powerful are Saudi Arabia's F-15 fighter jets, which welcomed PM Modi's aircraft, they are special because...
F-15 fighter jets of the Royal Saudi Air Force welcoming PM Modi's aircraft- Video grab In a unique and special gesture shown by the government of Saudi Arabia, the Royal Saudi Air Force has given a unique honor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the special gesture, PM Modi's aircraft was escorted by F-15 fighter planes of the Royal Saudi Air Force when his special flight entered the airspace of the Gulf nation on Tuesday. Notably, PM Modi is paying a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia. Video shows Saudi jets escorting PM Modi's aircraft The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also released a video of the Saudi jets escorting Modi's aircraft. The gesture is being seen as deepening of defence cooperation between the two countries. The gesture is being seen as a deepening of defence cooperation between the two countries, the report by news agency PTI said. 'Giving further momentum to our long-standing and historic ties. PM @narendramodi lands in the historic port city of Jeddah to a 21-gun salute & ceremonial welcome,' Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X. About Saudi Arabia's F-15 aircraft The F-15 aircraft is one of the most successful fighter planes in the world and the Saudi Arabian Air Force has 207 F-15E Strike Eagle (F-15SA) and 21 F-15 Eagle aircraft. The F-15 aircraft is twin-engine, all-weather fighter aircraft designed for air superiority. Reports have quoted experts saying that the F-15 fighter aircraft is considered the backbone of the Saudi Arabian Air Force. Notably, the Saudi Arabian Air Force has two variants of the F-15 aircraft, namely the F-15E Strike Eagle (F-15SA) and the F-15 Eagle. PM Modi and the Crown Prince will co-chair the second meeting of the Strategic Partnership Council, which was established during the prime minister's 2019 visit to strengthen bilateral ties. The prime minister, who received Saudi Arabia's highest civilian honour in 2016, described the crown prince as 'my brother'. PM Modi receives warm welcome Upon his arrival at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Modi was warmly welcomed by Indian community members. Saudi singer Hashim Abbas sang a popular Hindi film song to welcome Modi. Standing in front of Modi, Abbas sang 'Ae watan mere aabad rahe tu' from the Alia Bhat-Vicky Kaushal starrer Raazi. Modi joined in with claps amid loud cheers from the gathering in the hotel's lobby. (With inputs from agencies)
