16/10/2012 10:11:35
BAGHDAD (Iba), said a high ranking officer in the former Iraqi Air Force that a deal to buy 28 aircraft that Iraq contracted with Czech useless and does not have any military value on the ground.
The officer, who holds the rank of pilot Corner told the independent press (Iba) that this aircraft model of the 59 dedicated training and Avaúdh combat please them, and given the lack ofa college of aviation in Iraq, where the natural place for such type of aircraft, it is surprising especially if we know that Iraq had about 120 aircraft of the type of the 39 oldest relatively this style, half of which was from the owners warplanes College in Tikrit, which do not know Masirma Alt him at the moment.
Stressing that this transaction is intended to review the muscles and offer nothing but illusion that Iraq is able to arm itself even if it's about planes (scrap) did not succeed Czech marketed to other countries, as described.
He former pilot, who unwilling to be identified, said the engine of this aircraft, mainly Russian-made and the Czech Republic to manufacture hull plane and electrical engineering, navigational, namely the non-sophisticated, and was the first in Iraq that Abjt for another type of aircraft that support air power.
Iraq will buy 24 new aircraft from the 159 model manufactured by Aero Czech Foduchoda and four aircraft from the Czech army stocks. The first aircraft will be delivered from the Czech Ministry of Defense of Iraq within seven months of the signing of the contract. The delivery of the new aircraft will begin after two years.
And the 159 planes are planes speed below the speed of sound used for training or like light fighter aircraft. The Iraqi deal will be a tremendous success for the Czech arms industry that can not so far from the sale of these aircraft to the Czech army. It is the latest generation of the 39 aircraft that were issued by the former Czechoslovakia to customers in the Middle East and North Africa.
Iraq also bought more than 30 US-made fighter jet F-16, is scheduled to arrive the first aircraft in March 2014. And those aircraft will form the backbone of the new Air Force to Iraq.
The decision to purchase aircraft jet Czech L 59 at a time when al-Maliki is facing pressure from Washington to prevent Iran from transferring arms across Iraqi airspace to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his battle to quell the uprising against his rule 19 months ago.
Iraq has signed an arms deal worth $ 4.2 billion with Russia could allow Czech deal with Baghdad a greater margin for maneuver to ease U.S. pressure to diversify the sources of arms.
Iraq has not a real air weapon since the US-led invasion in 2003 and the overthrow of former President Saddam Hussein and Baghdad admitted that it will not be able to protect its airspace until 2020.
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