Iraq turns its eye on Russian weapons

well MiG35 has been mentioned 3 times by officials.

1 - Test flying of MiG35 prototype by Iraqi pilots.
2- US Iraqi Defence and Security cooperation head mentioned "Iraqi order for MiG35s"
3- Iraqi official armed forces magazine also mentioned MiG35, but only once. then it went quiet.

At the same time, the head of the Air Defence Command, has a model of a single seat flanker in his office (they do only keep models of items they bought in their offices).

But yet... the only "concrete" item of news offered by the commander of the airforce last month was "in addition to the Korean Fighters and F16s we have an order for fighter Jets from a leading International Supplier". THAT'S the only official confirmation for something.

sheytanelkebir wrote:well MiG35 has been mentioned 3 times by officials.

1 - Test flying of MiG35 prototype by Iraqi pilots.
2- US Iraqi Defence and Security cooperation head mentioned "Iraqi order for MiG35s"
3- Iraqi official armed forces magazine also mentioned MiG35, but only once. then it went quiet.

At the same time, the head of the Air Defence Command, has a model of a single seat flanker in his office (they do only keep models of items they bought in their offices).

But yet... the only "concrete" item of news offered by the commander of the airforce last month was "in addition to the Korean Fighters and F16s we have an order for fighter Jets from a leading International Supplier". THAT'S the only official confirmation for something.

Thanks for the update. So it looks like likely that Iraq will/has ordered the MiG-35 especially since, AFAIK the F-16's they're getting are a somewhat downgraded version

They would not be able to realistically receive any MiG-35s until 2017 at the earliest....I don't think this will be the model they go for, considering the urgent nature of their requirement.

Yes. MiG29M / M2 with future AESA upgrade seems to be the most likely "candidate". Similarly they mentioned that they'll buy T90S and then "upgrade" them later.

Now we know   

Iraq to receive first batch of Russian Night Hunter helicopters before end of 2014

An an-124 went to Baghdad airport military side 2 days ago.

What did it bring?

sheytanelkebir wrote:An an-124 went to Baghdad airport military side 2 days ago.

What did it bring?

My Guess is the first Pantris-S1. Though please let us know if you find out.

in an interview with a military commander the following statements were made.

Russia has delivered to Iraq Armoured Personnel Carriers and heavy self propelled artillery and will deliver Mi28NE helicopters soon. But in the meantime Russia has delivered urgently two second hand fighter aircraft to meet Iraq's needs in Anbar. Iraq has been signing many more arms purchase deals with Russia and other countries now that iraq has been removed from the UN Chapter VII sanctions.

Whatever was in that An-124 is most likely the two second hand planes.

The burning question is (assuming this not another of those journalistic blunders or wildly inaccurate rumours) what types are they, that apparently Iraq has had experience with before? MiG-29 or Su-24 or Su-25? Or maybe second hand Su-30K as someone suggested?

I would say mig29 or su25 would be good bets...

Interesting news. I wonder what Aircraft they could be. If its to help with the operation in Anbar my guess would be also Su-25s, Su-24s or even L-39s. I can't really see it being MiG-29s. If this news is true I suspect that they will be operated by contractors at lest partially.

well yesterday there was a DSCA notification for 24x AT6C Texan II "light attack armed reconnaissance" aircraft from the US... they estimate the lifecycle cost at $790M... so the "flyoff" cost will most probably be around the $400M mark... $16M per aircraft.

Its a shame that there isn't a modern SU-25 type that Russia can offer... and whatever happened to the Yak130 "armed" variant? what sort of endurance does it have?

Ulan-Ude can produce new two seat Su-25UBMs.....they were supposed to make some for the RuAF but aside from one example in testing for ever, I have not seen any new serial production :/ .

Is it perhaps that the Russian Air force (like the USAF) doesn't "like" these low-tech slow planes and so has a replacement for the type very low on the list of priorities?


anyway this was on RT news in Arabic (but not english?)

http://arabic.rt.com/news/699329-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82_%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA_%D9%85%D9%8A%E2%80%9335_%D9%85%D9%8A_28_%D8%A3%D9%86_%D8%A5%D9%8A/

Says a new shipment of Mi35M and the first Mi28NEs are being shipped to Iraq now on board AN-124s.

It says the total value of the helicopter deal is for:
24 Mi35M
19 Mi28NE

Around $1Bn.

Hmm that makes no sense, compared to what we have heard so far.
I read on a Russian forum the Mi-35s were almost a "freebie" thrown in with the Mi-28 deal, for the purpose of urgent delivery, hence the small numbers.

Btw, any news about Iraq being interested in Kamaz-63969? I think as far as what Russia offers, and what Iraq needs currently it would be perfect.
With some cage armor, it already has good internal capacity, well armored hull, RWS, rear ramp....downside compared to BTR-82 is size.

the KAMAZ looks like a nice vehicle.

but knowing the Iraqis, the fact that they already have BTR94 / BTR80 in service they'll buy more of those or BTR82s...

But I'd say the KAMAZ is a far more suitable solution.

anyway, the deal is so secretive that we really only find out the truth as items are delivered and suddenly "pop up" in service (like the KORNETs recently, or the ORSIS sniper rifles).

Nice   


Iraqi Leader to Discuss New Arms Supply Contracts With Putin

Yesterday another an 124 visited the military side of Baghdad international airport.
Flights seem very regular now.

Someone surely must know something about the russian contracts, what's in those An-124s coming to Baghdad and so on. Don't you have some iraqi MOD contacts Sheytan?  The waiting is absolutely frustrating!

Ιt seems Iraq can become a very important regional ally for Russia

was away from my desktop last week.

here's the pic of the last An-124 in Baghdad... sadly never see any pics of them being unloaded

now we know at least "some" of what was in those An-124s.

4x more Mi35Ms. This brings the total delivered to 8 units.