Alwaght- As part of efforts to modernize its air force, Iraq announced last week it purchased 12 JF-17 Tunder fighter jets from Pakistan.
The US after 2003 opposed Iraq buying non-American and European weapons and vowed to modernize its army and air force with American arms.
Iraqis,however, seems to be losing patience with unfulfilled American promises about military modernization and Baghdad now openly talks about arming its forces with Eastern, rather than Western, weapons, evoking memories of Saddam era.
Certainly, the American contractors and politicians' decline to support the American-provided fighter jets operated by the Iraqi air force is the main driver behind Baghdad making such decision to break with dependence on the American arms. To prove this argument, we first need to review the Iraqi air force structure and status and its return to non-American arms.
Iraq air force history
The Iraqi air force was established in 1931, one year before the country's full independence from Britain. From the very beginning, the air force was one of the three main branches of the Iraqi army and operated under the auspices of the Iraqi army general staff. However, it did not grow much for decades, with the exception of a few cases such as 1941, which coincided with World War II, and attacks on Kurdish positions under command of Mullah Mustafa Barzani during the 1960s and 1970s civil war. But following the start of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, the Iraqi air force became increasingly important and was involved in various operations during the eight years of the war.
The Iraqi air force reportedly had about 500 operational fighter jets over 8 years of war, almost all of which were made in China and the Soviet Union and used the technology of the two world powers in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1990, Iraq also purchased a number of French fighters. However, after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the air force was practically disbanded, but Washington promised to revitalize and equip this branch of the Iraqi army. At the same time, training young Iraqi pilots through in the US was on the agenda, and in 2011 the first deal for the purchase of F-16 fighter jets was signed with Baghdad.
Baghdad frustration with Washington and heading to Moscow and Islamabad
For all the years since 2003, the Americans have claimed to supply Iraq with military equipment and opposed Baghdad purchasing weapons from other countries. But the Iraqi government has decided that American services were inadequate and has sought to purchase weapons and equipment from other international suppliers. Actually, the Iraqi government finds it inevitable to resort to other providers to equip its forces as the Americans decline to provide the promised services.
The F-16 contract with Washington speaks against the US. The Iraqi air force purchased 36 Lockheed Martin F-16 Viper fighter jets under a 2011 military contract, but two of those fighters crashed in the first round of training. The remaining 34 fighters were assigned to the 9th Squadron at Balad Air Base, located 64 kilometers north of Baghdad. From the very beginning, Washington refused to deliver the fighters on time, and it was from 2014 to 2017 that 34 F-16s were delivered to Iraq.
After the delivery of these fighters, the delay of which led to Iraqi government dissatisfaction, a new problem emerged: the support for these fighters by American technical experts. Lockheed Martin's maintainance crews in charge of F-16 program left Iraq in 2021. Emerging reports show that out of 34 fighters at least 10 stationed at Al-Balad base are nonoperational. Of the other 24 fighters, almost more than half are only able to fly but lack proper radars and avionics. Another 20 aircraft capable of flying are devoid of crucial weapons such as air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. In fact, Lockheed Martin, as the maker of the fighter jets, did not entrust special support and technical services to the Iraqis, and the American defense contractor Sallyort Global Services, which specializes in protecting and maintaining fighter jets at Balad Air Base and has a contract with the Iraqi government, has recently decided to withdraw from Iraq.
Growing disappointed with the Americans, in 2020, Iraqi government openly talked about its interest to buy Russian fighter jets. Since then, Baghdad put on agenda purchasing Su-57, Russia's fifth-gen multirole jet, and Mig-29, equipped with air-to-air missiles and self-controlling radars. And very recently, it gave publicity to a deal to buy JF-17 Thunder, a Sino-Pakistani-developed fighter jet, from Pakistan. The Iraqi Defense Minister Juma Anad said Iraq would acquire 12 jets worth $666 million.
Baghdad certain it needs to end reliance on Washington
Iraq's tendency to buy weapons from Russia and China, and recently Pakistan, has in the past been openly opposed by the US, but Washington's policies and partial support for Baghdad in various security crises like ISIS rise seem to have solidified the certainty among the Iraqis that the time for transition from dependence on the US military has come.
In addition to fighter jets, Iraq faces trouble providing missiles, strategic offensive systems, and military radars to its armed forces. Over the past two decades, Baghdad has repeatedly sought to purchase advanced weapons, especially air defense systems, but each time Washington turned a deaf ear to its bids. The ignorance came while Washington massively sold arms to the Israeli regime and Persian Gulf Arab monarchies.
The American measures in Iraq give another reason to Iraqis to leave Washington behind and diversify its arms providers. According to 2009 security pact, Washington takes the commitment to address Baghdad military necessities but it has never been an honest partner. ISIS emergence and seizure of large parts of Iraqi territory bears witness to this fact.
Another driver behind Baghdad giving its military contracts with the US a second thought is the power and legitimacy gain of anti-American political forces in Iraqi politics. Actually, anti-Americanisn in recent years has emerged as a top political discourse in the Iraqi society and among political circles, with now a majority of political forces asking the US to pull out of their country. These anti-American sentiments have effectively motivated departure from reliance on the American arms.
