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Iraqi officials lay plans to rebuild Air
Force
19.11.2007
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November 19, 2007
DUBAI ,-- Creating reliable airlift and
reconnaissance fleets will be the first order of
business for the new Iraqi Air Force, Iraqi and U.S.
officials said. But industry observers warn it is
still too early for Iraq to go airplane shopping.
“We have now a plan for five years, for short-term,
midterm and long-term,” Lt. Gen. Kamal Barzanji,
commander of the Iraq Air Force, said at the third
biennial Middle East Air Chiefs Conference here Nov.
10, just before the opening of the Dubai Air Show.
The Al Quwwat al Jawwiya al Iraqiya (IQAF) completed
its first medevac in Baghdad in March. But Seabird
Seeker (SB7L-360) planes bought from Jordan in the
past few years are grounded for inspections,
Barzanji said. |
Iraqi Air Force commander Lt Gen Kamal Barzanji |
Three U.S. C-130s are handling some intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
Contracts are in the works to purchase the
Beechcraft King Air 350 twin-prop utility aircraft.
The long-term plan calls for fighter jets and
possibly UAVs to augment or replace manned
reconnaissance aircraft, Barzanji said.
But the service needs maintenance and
air-traffic-control gear before it goes shopping for
jets, he said.
“We have big challenges in between insurgency and
terrorism against our targets like pipelines and
power stations, dams and our government’s sensitive
positions,” Barzanji said. “Our mission now for
counterterrorism is how we can protect the pipeline
and power lines.”
Industry executives with experience in the region
declined to speculate on what planes Iraq might buy,
but some suggested that near-term purchases might
include desert-ready lift and surveillance
helicopters and some low-end counterinsurgency
aircraft.
Ultimately, rebuilding an air force has to be done
in concert with rebuilding the entire military,
examining tactical matters, geo-situational
considerations and potential threats, one long-time
aerospace businessman said.
“The needs at this point are very fundamental,” he
said. “There are so many other needs that would come
ahead of having an air force.”
Another industry executive said, “U.S. and coalition
forces will likely be providing some level of air
support in Iraq for a while.”
In the long term, some help could come from other
well-equipped countries, and that list goes well
beyond the United States and United Kingdom, said
Lt. Gen. Gary North, commander of U.S. Central
Command Air Forces.
Several Gulf nations have newer planes than the U.S.
Air Force. For example, the United Arab Emirates
operates Block 60 F -16s, far newer than the U.S.
service’s late-1980s version.
U.S. generals and acquisition leaders are singing
much the same tune, commenting on possible needs for
the fledgling IQAF, not what aircraft might fill
them.
“They’ve asked us and we have supplied them with
equipment, [and] we’ve started basic training on
that equipment,” said Claude Bolton, a 30-year U.S.
Air Force veteran and now assistant secretary of the
Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.
North said the C-130, a workhorse in air services
worldwide, is one obvious airlifter candidate. But
he said U.S. officials will have little input into
the Iraqis’ purchasing decisions.
“It really is, quite frankly, their national choice.
... Every sovereign nation must choose what capacity
is required in order to have self-defense,” he said.
“We would like to see the Iraqi Air Force go the
direction the Iraqi Air Force and the Iraqi
government want to go.”
The new IQAF has more challenges than just
equipment. Barzanji said it takes up to six months
to make sure a potential recruit really wants to
join the air service, not infiltrate it.
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