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Iraq to get F-16 fighter jets in early
2014 despite Kurdistan opposition: official
30.4.2012 |
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April 30, 2012
BAGHDAD,— Iraq will receive the first 24
of 36 F-16 fighter jets it has ordered from the
United States at the beginning of 2014, a senior
official told Reuters on Sunday.
Under deposed dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq's air
force was one of the largest in the region with
hundreds of mainly Soviet-designed jets. Its
military was disbanded after the U.S.-led invasion
in 2003.
Last July, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki doubled the
number of warplanes Iraq had initially planned to
buy to strengthen an air force neglected during a
protracted period when the country relied on U.S.
air support.
Iskander Witwit, the deputy head of parliament's
security and defense committee, said that the first
24 planes would make up two air force squadrons.
"Iraq intends to have equipment which is more
developed than neighboring countries have. Small
neighboring countries like Kuwait even have five
squadrons," Witwit said.
Iraq would be in the market for more planes in the
future, Witwit said. Pilots are already training to
fly the new F-16s.
Some of Iraq's neighbors and the president of its
semi-autonomous Kurdistan region,www.ekurd.net
Massoud Barzani, have said they are
worried about Baghdad acquiring the
jets.
"I feel Kurdistan's future is in severe danger
because of (Maliki)," Barzani said last week. "F-16
(jets) should not reach the hands of this man."
The central government and the Kurdish region have
long-running disputes over political autonomy, oil
rights and contested territories.
But Witwit dismissed the concerns, telling Reuters
the warplanes were intended to defend Iraq, not "one
man".
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency,
Reuters
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