Posted on 04/02/2009 7:57:40 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Iraqi Air Force Looks To Rebuild With F-16s
By Michael Bruno
The Iraqi Air Force has a three-phase, 11-year improvement plan, including plans to buy T-6 trainers and eventually a few dozen multirole Lockheed Martin F-16s by the middle of next decade, while the navy there is looking for offshore patrol boats, military officials said near Washington this morning.
But the war-torn Middle East country is increasingly facing a budget squeeze of its own, they also said.
“Right now, budget is the No. 1 driver impacting our way forward,” said U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, commanding general of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I). “What gets funded is what gets done.”
Helmick said Iraq is entering negotiations over acquiring as many as 24 Hawk Beechcraft T-6 trainers, but he indicated to the audience at the 3rd Iraq Aviation and Defense Summit in McLean, Va., that the deal was not assured. The trainers would come ahead of a possible buy of up to 36 F-16s seen around 2015 or 2016.
In December 2008, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced that Iraq was officially seeking 20 T-6A Texans from Hawker Beechcraft as part of a $210 million foreign military sale. The Iraq Air Force’s (IAF) current trainer fleet consists of Cessna 172 Skyhawks and Cessna 208B Caravans. DSCA said at the time that the IAF needs to supplement or replace its fleet with these new aircraft to modernize its air force and facilitate its transition to the AT-6 light-attack aircraft.
IAF chief Lt. Gen. Anwar Ahmed told the conference April 1 that the air service is fighting to rebuild and modernize itself after devastation starting in the Iran-Iraq war and running through the fall of Saddam Hussein. The IAF’s vision is to become a professional, qualified force capable of defending the country’s borders, providing close-air support, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, among other capabilities.
To get there, the IAF has a three-step plan starting this year. The first phase lasts through 2011, with the second phase going through 2015, and the last ending in 2020. The goal includes obtaining multirole fighters, light and medium air defense and early warning capabilities, he said. But the IAF chief alluded to difficult choices brought by roller-coaster oil prices and pressing needs of a country trying to emerge from severe war.
“It will require many years of hard work and significant investment,” Ahmed said.
Helmick said the Iraq military’s whole rebuilding plan entails spending around $9 billion annually for six years. This year, he said, it looks like the Defense Ministry may get about $4.5 billion.
The day may come when they help us neutralize the mullah tyranny in Iran.
Yes, lets give them some our most advanced aircraft. And when we leave, the next dictator that takes over Iraq will have superior aircraft to fight us with. And, I firmly believe the country will fall to another Saddam Hussein soon after we leave.
I believe that Iraq will be subject to another dictatorship six months to a year after we leave … been saying this for years.
Most do not have the full story...
This is the relevent para going into the next LWJ ISF OOB update:
The budget crunch is seriously hurting ISF development.
F-16 ping.
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