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| Iraq |
| Bulking Up Iraqi Army |
| 2006-12-03 |
| With pressure to do more of the fighting, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki plans to increase the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) by nearly 20,000, according the U.S. command in Baghdad. The plan had been for 325,000 army, police and other forces. The army number will be increased by 18,700, the command said, at the expense of the Iraqi government. The Pentagon so far has received $8 billion from Congress to build the ISF. The increase breaks down to three new divisions, five new brigades and 20 battalions, plus one additional special operations battalion. That would give Iraq, I believe, 13 army divisions. That might also mean creating a second Corps, as that is more than a bit heavy for one Command. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #8 agreed - thx |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-12-03 22:15 |
| #7 Frank, I think your idea of giving up some Tomcats is not a good idea: Iran has some, whether flying of not, they probably still have crews that could get them airborne. Unless you want to set a little bait, maybe? We have lots of other good a/c in the desert that would be adequate; F-111, A-7 ( both USAF and USN), A-4, A-6 ( my personal all time favorite) as well as early F-16/ FA18. |
| Posted by: USN,Ret 2006-12-03 21:31 |
| #6 Does that include any of the ones that were buried in sand dunes to hide them? Because I was under the belief that the sand dune planes were total write-offs. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2006-12-03 18:38 |
| #5 Saddam managed to run the place without an air force. The problem is not equipment, it's will. Wonder where they caught that bug. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-12-03 15:19 |
| #4 I know where there are a few C-130s sitting around that they could use. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2006-12-03 14:43 |
| #3 give em the mothballed F14s |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-12-03 13:34 |
| #2 Iraqi Air Force Combat Aircraft: 80 Chengdu F-7 53 Mirage F1 5 Dassault Super Etendard Really? Jeez, we missed all of those? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2006-12-03 13:05 |
| #1 Still, the eventual breakdown of divisions and other military branches will be the deciding factor. Currently, only the 9th division is Mechanized. Hungary agreed to give 77 refurbished T-72 Main Battle Tanks. 173 M113s, 44 Panhards, and 100 Spartans are being donated by Jordan, Pakistan and UAE. 600 DZIK3 APCs (option 1200) and 573 Akrep APCs for delivery by Jan 2007. 756 Cougar APCs (option 1050) for delivery by Nov 2008. The 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Division took delivery of 10 armored HMMWVs in March 2006 713 M1114s and 400 M1151s were scheduled for delivery by July 2006. Iraqi Air Force Combat Aircraft: 80 Chengdu F-7 53 Mirage F1 5 Dassault Super Etendard Transport Aircraft 10 An-2 12 An-12 24 An-24 2 An-26 Attack helicopters Transport helicopters |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-12-03 12:56 |