Khalid bin Sultan Al Saud

Khalid bin Sultan Al Saud (خالد بن سلطان بن عبد العزيز آل سعود; born 24 September 1949) is the former deputy minister of defense and a member of the House of Saud.

Prince Khalid was born on 24 September 1949.

He is the oldest son of Prince Sultan and full brother of Fahd bin Sultan, Faisal bin Sultan and Turki bin Sultan.

He attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst from January 1967, where he was a corporal in the cadet government, and graduated in 1968.

He also studied at the US Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

He graduated from the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.

He also holds a master's degree in political science which he received from Auburn University at Montgomery in 1980.

In the first years as a soldier, despite his choice to be selected for special forces personnel, Khalid bin Sultan was given a command of an artillery platoon in Tabuk province.

Later, his position advanced as he was given a task for conducting contract and purchasing of Saudi Arabia's first guided missile with People's Republic of China.

For this prominent role, he was given an honorary title "Father of Saudi Arabia's Missile".

After years in the army, thinking that air defense should be given more important role in the national defense, he established the Saudi air defense force, and became its first commander.

Shortly after occupation of Iraq to Kuwait in the first Persian Gulf War, he was chosen as the commander of the joint Arab forces, and shared an equal position and responsibility with general Norman Schwarzkopf of US Army.

King Fahd promoted Prince Khalid to field marshal afterward.

In 1991, he retired from the military to focus on business.

In January 2001, he was brought back into the military as assistant defense minister for military affairs.

In November 2009, Khalid bin Sultan led a Saudi military intervention in Yemen.

The campaign had various tactical mistakes, and Khalid was heavily criticized.

The Saudis had 130 casualties and Yemen lost over 1000.

In December 2009, Khalid gave a 48-hour ultimatum for Houthi withdrawal from Al Jabri.

Soon, he declared that the campaign had ended after the Houthi promised through Al-Quds Al-Arabi they would withdraw from the border in exchange for a ceasefire.

The Houthi also stated that the Yemen government had used Saudi territory to bomb targets.

King Abdullah was not pleased by Khalid's leadership when Saudi troops could not quickly push back Houthis who had seized Saudi territory in late 2009.

King Abdullah specifically expressed his concerns over the long duration of the conflict, large number of casualties, and Saudi incompetence.

Therefore, this situation led to decrease in his potential succession of his father as defense minister.

In February 2010, Ambassador Smith met with Khalid.

Smith brought attention to Saudi airstrikes on Yemeni hospitals.

Khalid admitted that the event occurred because Yemen had designated the area as a Houthi military base.

He also stated that this event occurred because of inaccurate military equipment and the U.S. refusal to provide Predators.

He went on to state that Saudi strategy was to force the Houthis to reconcile with the Yemeni government by a strong show of military force.

He complained that it was difficult to avoid civilian casualties.

The Saudi-Yemeni joint committee granted clearances to Khalid bin Sultan for attacks to be conducted.

He also stated that Yemeni intelligence was unreliable and politically motivated.

Yemen data claimed terrorist positions in a place when in actuality the place was the office of General Ali Mohsen Al Ahmar, a political adversary to President Saleh.

The others were related to his involvement in procurement of arms in 2010 and 2013.

Their mother is Munira bint Abdulaziz bin Musaed bin Jiluwi who died in Paris on 24 August 2011.

Moneera bint Abdulaziz was a sister of Alanoud, spouse of King Fahd.

She was also cousin of King Khalid and Prince Muhammed.

Khalid bin Sultan is a graduate of King Saud University.

In early 2011, he announced that “more than 70 percent of military equipment can be produced locally" and the future creation of a government branch for domestic military growth. He was regarded as a likely candidate to replace his father as defense minister in 2011. However, he was appointed deputy defense minister in November 2011. His term lasted until 20 April 2013 when he was replaced by Fahd bin Abdullah, another member of the royal family. Traditionally, the decision follows exemption "based on his request," but the royal order issued exempting Khalid bin Sultan from office, did not include this phrase.

Joseph A. Kéchichian, a Middle East analyst, argued after Khalid's removal from office on 20 April 2013 that there are three potential reasons for his dismissal, one of which is about his activity in 2009 mentioned above.