Posted on 09/01/2005 10:50:01 AM PDT by jmc1969
Iraq's nascent air force carried out its first military mission when it flew two battalions of Iraqi troops into a troubled zone in the north of the country, a US military spokesman has said.
Maj Gen Rick Lynch said that three C-130 Hercules cargo planes this week redeployed troops belonging to the 2nd Iraqi Division from the Kurdish city of Irbil to Tal Afar near the country's north-western frontier with Syria.
"This was the first use of the Iraqi air force," Lynch said.
Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq boasted the strongest air force in the Arab world.
At its zenith in the late 1980s, it listed nearly 750 combat aircraft in its arsenal, including Soviet MiGs and Sukhois and French Mirage fighters, along with hundreds of helicopters and heavy transports.
(Excerpt) Read more at headlines.virgin.net ...
I hope they had more than three C-130 to move a couple of battalions!
A battalion is 500 to 900 men plus, gear.
A C-130 holds 80, plus gear. (If I remember correctly, it's been 7 years since I was on one)
I think the Iraqi Air Force "assisted" with the move.
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