Iraq is a land with a long and turbulent history. Straddling the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, it has long been an area of active growth and expansion being one of the centers of early civilization. Iraq has seen many changes over the centuries. It has been home to the ancient kingdoms of Sumeria, Babylonia and Assyria. Being a fertile land, it has been overrun and conquered many times. First, by Alexander the Great of Macedonia: then by the Persians of Iran: followed by the Parthians, the Romans, the Arabs and ultimately: the Ottoman-Turks. From the 8th to the 13th century Iraq's capital, Baghdad, was the center of Islamic art and culture. However, under the 385 year reign of the Turks, the entire area underwent a slow decay. The Ottoman Empire finally collapsed at the end of World War I and Iraq was formally created as a state under British mandate by the League of Nations. In 1932, the Iraqis gained Independence becoming their own country. Their first King was an outstanding leader but died in 1933 and political turmoil prevailed until 1958 when their second King was assassinated by General Abdul Kassim who ruled as a military dictator before being overthrown in 1963 by a military Junta from which Saddam Hussein eventually emerged to become Iraq's present leader. Iraq's Air Force, Al Quwwat al Jawwiya al Iraqiya, had its beginnings with the British who had regularly furnished small quantities of obsolete aircraft since the late 1930s. However, beginning in 1958, the Iraqi Air Force entered the jet age with the acquisition of British Hawker Hunters, 60 of which were obtained over a period of 10 years. It was the Soviets, seeking to gain influence in the Middle-East though, that turned the Iraqi Air Force into the power-house it is today. In the early 1960's the Soviets exported large quantities of MiG fighters to Iraq and provided training for its pilots. Over the years Soviet support continued and by 1980 the Iraqi Air Force had tripled in size. The close relationship between them and the Soviets continues to this day even though Iraq has also acquired Mirage fighters from France and advanced trainers from other European countries. The Iraqi Air Force is not lacking in combat experience either: having fought in the 1967 and 1973 Arab/Israeli wars and having been regularly utilized in the eight year war with Iran from 1980 to 1988. In 1967, their principal combat aircraft consisted of the following: 33 Hawker Hunters 20-30 MiG-21F Fishbeds 20-30 MiG- 17F Frescos 12 IL-28 Beagles 10 TU- 16 Badger-A Of these, about 12 MiG-21s: 5 Hunters: 3 beagles: and 1 Badger were lost in combat with the Israelis during the famous "Six Day War". 10 of the aircraft were lost on the ground during a single Israeli raid which was one of several strikes conducted against Iraqi airfields during the short war. A number of Hunters and MiG-21s engaged these attackers claiming a dozen or so kills against Mirages, Vatours, and Mysteres. The Israelis admit to three losses though there is evidence that the actual number was about six. In any event, within a month of die war's end, the Russians had replaced every single MiG loss and continued supplying additional aircraft so that by 1973 Iraq's air power stood at the following: 30 Hawker Hunters 60 MiG-21F/MF Fishbeds 15 MiG-17F Frescos 50 SU-7B Fitters 6-10 EL-28 Beagle 8 TU- 16 Badgers 20 BAC Jet Provost, L-29 Delfin, MiG 15UTI Trainers Iraq's Air Force was committed into action against the Israelis again during the 1973 Yom Kippur Arab/Israeli war. This time they conducted dozens of offensive raids using MiG-17s and SU-7s to strike at Israeli ground forces while MiG-21s and Hunters flew top cover. About 15 Iraqi aircraft were lost to Israeli defenses in these attacks and at least six Hunters were brought down in separate incidents by friendly Syrian SAM batteries. The problem being the Hunters did not have an IFF compatible with the Soviet missile systems which extensively equipped the Arabs. As the tide of battle turned against the Egyptians and Syrians, the Iraqis enthusiasm for helping waned and their air support tapered off, eventually assuming a full defensive posture as the Israelis rolled up the Egyptian and Syrian troops after much bitter fighting. No accurate assessment of Iraqi losses exists but between 20 and 30 aircraft would be a good guess and the Israelis do not admit to any air to air losses against Iraqi jets though odds are there were several. As before, the Russians immediately replaced all the losses. The Iraqis also began to enjoy a favored status and soon even the latest Soviet aircraft were being given to them. Iraq was one of the first Arab nations to receive SU-20 Fitters, MiG-23s and MiG-25s. In the late 1970s, France began to export heavily into the Middle- East and provided Mirage F1 fighters. These planes were highly regarded by the Iraqis and the French pilot training program was quite thorough. By the time Iraq went to war with Iran following the fall of the Shah, its air force boasted the following numbers: 20 Hawker Hunter 12 Mirage F1 30 MiG-17F/PF Frescos 90 MiG-21 F/PFMA/MF Fishbeds 50 MiG-23B/G/BN Floggers 10 MiG-25 Foxbats (Soviet crews) 40 SU-713 Fitters 60 SU-20 Fitters 8 IL-28 Beagles 7 TU-16 Badgers 9 TU-22 Blinders 30-50 Jet trainers At the onset of the Iran/Iraq war, the Iraqi Air Force conducted numerous raids against Iranian air fields and defenses in a bid for gaining air superiority. Unfortunately, these raids did little more than knock out some radars and damage runways as the former Shah had seen to it that his air fields were hardened with many aircraft in bomb-proof shelters. Iranian defenses also shattered several attacks using U.S. built Hawk SAMs which were fairly effective against the Iraqi raiders who often approached in large groups at medium altitudes and lacked ECM. Low level navigation and attack was not a skill that had been conferred to the Soviet trained Fitter and MiG pilots. Initially the Iranian Air Force retaliated in kind but also suffered losses to the dense Soviet style network of SAMs the Iraqis fielded. From then on, both sides reverted to heavily pounding each other with constant raids on cities, oil terminals and military bases. Iraqi Hunters and Fitters were very active in the close air support role as well. By 1982 the situation had completely changed and the air offensives petered out. The Iranian Air Force having purged its best officers and men during the revolution before the war, and suffering from a lack of spares for its western built jets had exhausted itself. Although it had started with almost 250 serviceable jets, it could now field only about 50 to 80 jets on any given day. It had lost over 100 jets (mostly F-5s and F-4s) to Iraqi defenses. The Iraqis had lost about 150 aircraft including a couple of Badger bombers during the same time frame but were still getting replacements from the Soviets and French. The Iranians pulled back to regroup and rebuild. Iraqi jets continued to pressure the Iranians though at a greatly reduced sortie rate. Iraq's problem now was a lack of well trained and qualified pilots. The planes had been replaced easily but many pilots had been lost over Iranian territory and were not. Loath to risk its valuable crews they limited themselves to less dangerous raids against oil fields and tankers and poorly defended targets. In 1983 their Air Force was listed as containing: 36 Mirage FIEQ 115 MiG-21 F/PFMA/MF Fishbeds* 75 MiG-23G/BN Floggers 18 MiG-25 Foxbats (half with Iraqi pilots) 40 SU-7B Fitters 80 SU-20 Fitters 8 IL-28 Beagles 9 TU-22 Blinders 20-40 Jet trainers *(most of the new ones being Chinese built Shenyang J.7s) About 12 Hunters, 30 MiG-17s and several TU-16 Badgers were known to be in storage for lack of crews. In late 1983, the ground war was fully stagnated and the so called "Tanker war" began as Iraqi jets attacked oil tankers heading for Iran. To accomplish this a number of Mir-age Fl s were modified to carry French built Exocet missiles and were fitted with AGAVE radars to use them. For a short while, a number of Super Entendard jets were leased from France for the same mission but these were returned as the modified Mirages became available. At about this same time, Chinese built Shenyang J.6s (MiG-19Fs) were supplied to both combatants. They reached Iraq through Egypt and Jordan, and Iran through North Korea. Lack of pilots to crew these aircraft saw them little used though and the Iraqis soon relegated them to advanced training squadrons. As the war plodded on, Iranian jets became less visible although the effort to rebuild was proving successful as evidenced from a 1985 flyby of 22 Tomcats during ceremonies in Teheran. Considering only 7 Tomcats were serviceable in 1983, this was quite an achievement. Iraqi pilots on the other hand, were becoming more active after 1983 and had revised their tactics. Fitters and MiG-23s now used survivable low level tactics passed on to them by the ever growing contingent of French trained Mirage pilots. The French Mirages were also receiving state of the art French jamming and decoy dispenser pods as well as Laser guided bombs and laser designator pods. In 1986, these aircraft dropped several bridges in Iran in joint raids with Fitters who dropped Soviet LGBs while the Mirages painted the targets with French designators. Also by 1986, China had helped the Iraqis restore their TU-16 fleet selling them 4 Chinese built Badgers in the process. Though the Iraqi Air Force was slowly solving its pilot shortage problems through an expanded training program and it was becoming evermore effective, both sides had exhausted themselves in the land war and a cease-fire was signed in 1988 halting combat operations. After the war, Iraq embarked upon a major Air Force expansion program, acquiring SU-25 Frogfoots, MiG-29 Fulcrums, and SU-24 Fencers as well as tripling its Mirage fleet and doubling its training program. They acquired additional ECM pods and equipment from the French plus full stocks of laser guided bombs, cluster bombs, runway cratering bombs and other sophisticated weapons from both France and the Soviet Union as well as from Chile South America. At the time of their invasion of Kuwait, Iraq could field the following aircraft: 150 MiG-21 F/PFMA/MF/bis Fishbeds (many wired to carry Matra 550 Magic I missiles) 70 MiG-23G/BN Floggers (many modified for air to air refueling using the same probes put on Mirages) 15 MiG-25 Foxbat (10 interceptors and 5 recon versions) 64 MiG-29 Fulcrum (export variants) 94 Mirage F1s 30 SU-20 Fitters 50 SU-22M Fitters 10 SU-24 Fencers (crews still in training in late 1990) 30 SU-25 Frogfoots 12 TU- 16 Badgers (Six Chinese built with ASM capability) 8 TU-22 Blinders (Conventional AS-4 Kitchen ASMs in storage for these) 10 SU-7UM Fitters (two seat trainers for fitter crews) 90 L-29/L-39 jet trainers (limited attack capability) 10 MiG-15UTI (two seat trainers used as target tugs and hack aircraft) All of the surviving Hunters, MiG-17s, MiG-19s, SU-7Bs, and IL-28s are now either in storage or have been sold to other third world countries. In summary, the Iraqis can be said to have an experienced and capable air force. Their French trained pilots are the equal of many NATO trained pilots. Well over half their Mirage, MiG-23BN and Fitter pilots can be considered battlehardened and competent. The rest are less capable being rapidly trained and lacking in tactical ability as they are the products of the large expansion program started only two years ago. In time, they will get better. While the Iraqis performed well against the Iranians, they have never faced the calibre of pilots which now stare them down from across the Saudi borders. Iraq's Air Force is large but not massive and it is scattered over many bases. The Mirage F1s and MiG-29s are excellent jets but the rest of their aircraft mix does not stand up against the latest technology being deployed against them in Operation Desert Shield. The F15s, F- 16s, F- 14s, F-18s, Mirage 2000s and Tornadoes of the U.N. forces are all a level more advanced than the Iraqi Mirages and export MIG- 29s. In the event of war, we can expect part of Iraq's Air Force to put up a stiff fight before being shut down, the rest will be slaughtered or run to Jordan to hide. If my instincts are right, the veteran Iraqi pilots may score a number of kills before being overwhelmed, but they will be overwhelmed. Sources World Air Power 1986 edition: Air Forces Monthly 30,31, and 32: World Military Aviation 1973 and 1978 Editions: Flight International Nov. 1987, Interavia Jan. 1987, Born In Battle #6, #24, #41: Shield Of David: Aviation Space and Week 12/17/73, 10/15/73, 10/22173, 12/3/73, 5/23/83, 12/13/86, Grolier New Book Of Knowledge Vol. 1. Back to Table of Contents -- Air Power # 13 Back to Air Power List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1990 by J.D. 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