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Iraq
Iraq Buys Used Russian Fighter Jets Amid U.S. Delivery Delay
2014-06-28
[BUSINESSWEEK] Iraq has bought used fighter jets from Russia and Belarus to battle Islamist faceless myrmidons after long delays in the delivery of F-16 planes from the U.S. left troops without air support, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Maliki imposed order on Basra wen the Shiites were going nuts, but has proven incapable of dealing with al-Qaeda's Sunni insurgency. Reelected to his third term in 2014...
 said.

Maliki, in an interview with BBC Arabic yesterday, blamed the U.S.'s "long, very slow way" for delaying the delivery of 36 aircraft. "We shouldn't have just bought U.S. jets, we should have bought British, French and Russian jets to provide air support. If we had air support, none of this would have happened," he said, according to excerpts e-mailed by the BBC.
The MiG-21 is perfectly capable of suppressing a defenseless population. It's also useful in going after militants as long as the militants don't have heavy anti-air guns or Stingers...
The U.S is delivering the first F-16 aircraft "as quickly as possible" and has said all along that they'll be handed over in the fall, Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon front man, told news hounds in Washington yesterday. He also said that the remaining 200 of 500 Hellfire missiles approved for delivery to Iraq will be sent in the coming weeks.
Posted by:Fred

#13  It also occured to me... how many helicopters did ISIS just capture on the ground?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2014-06-28 23:18  

#12  The Insh'Allah Air Force flies again.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2014-06-28 19:02  

#11  The quality of new Russian aircraft is suspect. I would not want to think about used aircraft.
Posted by: Squinty   2014-06-28 15:00  

#10  To Maliki, the fact that the planes come with non-Iraqi pilots is a feature, not a bug, I suspect.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2014-06-28 14:51  

#9  Could these dickheads in the white house be any more obvious? They are so intent on getting rid of Maliki they will throw the baby out with the bath water?

Geez we have zillions of F-16's parked in every Air Guardsman garage from here to Duluth and it takes SIX MONTHS to gas them up and get a 444 written?
Posted by: Bill Clinton   2014-06-28 11:45  

#8  I expect Champ or Kerry to announce their intriguing new Iraqi-Iranian coalition within the next few days. Well, not so intriguing if you've read Alinsky and have been following ValJar.
Posted by: Besoeker   2014-06-28 08:30  

#7  Hinds for tater-tots. Certainly couldn't be about sex, by Russian standards anyway. That only leaves money as a motive.
Posted by: Besoeker   2014-06-28 08:13  

#6  So Russia is playing nice with Iran, Iraq and Syria. As usual, I fear they're up to something.

Looking at the map, it appears that they're surrounding Turkey from the east.

Hmmm
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2014-06-28 07:30  

#5  And who will manage airspace de-confliction and targeting....? Oh wait !
Posted by: Besoeker   2014-06-28 07:28  

#4  Iran has an excessive pilot:airplane ratio these days...

Oh ho! And the Persians just so happen to fly Su-24s and 25s. So there is the little airplane ecosystem,complete with drivers (who probably don't mind killing Sunnis). No need for 'soviet advisors'.
Posted by: SteveS   2014-06-28 07:23  

#3  I seem to recall that Iran has an excessive pilot:airplane ratio these days...
Posted by: trailing wife   2014-06-28 07:00  

#2  Who is going to fly them, "contractors"?

Yep.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2014-06-28 01:58  

#1  So the US dicks around and the Iraqis buy used Russian planes on eBay. Nice. (Saw some mention that they were Sukhois. Model seems vague. Journalists!)

Getting planes is one thing, but pilots, spares and maintenance is another. Who is going to fly them, "contractors"?
Posted by: SteveS   2014-06-28 00:50  

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