New "Iraqi" AirForce

[Tom Crawford]

Something that has been on my mind for a while but have not heard any discussion of is "Where has the IRAQI Air Force gone"? The U.S. and their Alliance partners have been busy reorganizing and training the IRAQI army and police but we hear nothing of their air force. I suspect they are being retrained here in the states and will soon make a debut once again in IRAQ with F-22's and with all the trimmings. Any thoughts??? Maybe someone has one upped me because I have never spent much time over in this forum...Tom

[Tulio]

They have been flying patrols with an aircraft, IIRC called the "Seeker" and have also received UH-1Hs, some russian helos (Mi-8 or 16), and also have a couple of early C-130 models.

Saludos,


Tulio

[CAPFlyer]

http://www.scramble.nl/iq.htm

Great resource for good (and current) information.

Just click on "Order of Battle" and it'll link you to a listing of types operated by base and unit.

It appears the CompAir's may have been removed from service with the delivery of the SAMA CH2000s and King Air 350 ISR aircraft.

Here's another article on the Iraqi Air Force -

http://www.milavia.net/airforces/iraq/iqaf.htm

[Randy Haskin]

There is a whole lot of training going on right now, but that is it. They are not being trained in the US...they are/will be trained in Iraq as part of the Iraqi Air Force.

There are many, many USAF guys detailed to Iraq specifically to set up different levels of training and instruct. I've all ready personally dodged the bullet to get sent there on a year-long detail as an instructor pilot.

USAF guys are setting up training in the C-172, the C-208, the SAMA, the Seekers, C-130s, and a couple other various types. The goal is to set up a self-sustaining organization first, before trying to be able to have any sport of combat airpower. I imagine that like the JASDF, they will initially be a security force and have equipment to support that mission. In other words, they won't be sporting Raptors any time soon...not this decade or the next.

An Air Force is not an "instant, just add water" kind of item. You'll remember that this one was essentially built up from zero. Aviators take time to train, and even then you simply have a new aviator. It takes a lot of time to grow the experience required to operate as a cohesive organization.

There was an idea back circa '03 or '04 to send guys who had previously been active pilots in the Saddam Iraqi Air Force through some US requalification programs, but it was decided deliberately to start from scratch.