Robins plays role in record year for arms sales Published Sept. 14, 2012 By Jenny Gordon Robins Public Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- The U.S. in 2011 led the world in arms sales to developing and developed nations, making arms transfer agreements valued at $66.3 billion. Robins helped to execute nearly $10 billion as part of that effort. This was the "highest single-year agreements total in the history of the U.S. arms export program," according to an Aug. 24 report from the Congressional Research Service. The report noted that the global total was especially high due to multiple agreements with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to provide 84 new F-15SA advanced fighter aircraft, upgrade to its current fleet of 70 F-15S aircraft, as well as munitions, spare parts, training, maintenance and long-term logistics support. A $29.4 billion defense package was signed by Saudi Arabia in December 2011, with the F-15 System Program Office at Robins to benefit from the sale. Of the $29.4 billion package, an estimated $10 billion will be executed from here. Col. Robert Stambaugh, F-15SA Security Assistance Program Manager, commented earlier in the year that 2012 was going to be a very busy time for Team Robins and the Air Force. He noted that Robins' role will include an estimated 50 contracts that will be executed over the next nine years into early 2021. "The program is progressing well. This will continue a 30-plus year relationship between Robins, the F-15 system program office, and the Royal Saudi air force," noted Stambaugh. "We also expect to finalize the conversion design later this year." The design will be a major milestone, which will also include a critical design review on the conversion of 70 F-15S Saudi aircraft to the advanced F-15SA configuration. Also playing a major support role are precision attack, electronic warfare, automatic test equipment and armament organizations from Robins. Initial delivery of the first aircraft will be in 2015, with modification kit installations to be performed in the Kingdom starting in 2016.