Iraq is still interested in purchasing 12 French Rafale jets for air surveillance missions, according to French media, however, the planes will not come equipped with Meteor air-to-air missiles beyond visual range, reducing their overall usefulness as air superiority fighters for Baghdad, Forbes reported Tuesday.
“The most notable part of the reports is that Iraq will not have the option of acquiring Meteor missiles alongside the Rafale, significantly reducing the exceptional capabilities of this advanced 4.5-generation jet as an air superiority fighter,” the report, translated by Al-Maalouma Agency, stated. “Israel, which allegedly used Iraqi airspace earlier this year to launch a strike against Iran, has reportedly pressured France to withhold these missiles.”
“This is neither surprising nor unprecedented, and if anything, it is another reminder that, as with Egypt, Western powers are reluctant to sell Iraq their most advanced air-to-air missiles, and conversely, are unwilling to sell such advanced air-to-air missiles to Turkey and the Gulf states,” he added.
The report explained that “America also never supplied Iraq and Egypt with AIM-120s for their F-16s, and David Witty, a former U.S. Army Special Forces colonel who served in Egypt, once joked that Egyptian F-16s were so inferior to their Israeli counterparts that they were essentially civilian aircraft.”
“When the United States supplied Iraq with F-16s, specifically the F-16IQ Block 52, in the mid-2000s, they were notably lacking in AIM-120 missiles and came with only the relatively outdated AIM-7 Sparrow missiles. These medium-range missiles became increasingly unreliable due to faulty guidance systems that Iraq lacked and the spare parts to repair them. As a result, the Iraqi Air Force’s already limited air-to-air engagement capability deteriorated further,” the report explained.
“Since the initial announcement of the Iraqi Rafale deal more than two years ago, it became immediately clear that Baghdad wanted these fighters primarily for air defense and not as ground attack aircraft,” the report noted. “Even ten Rafale aircraft paired with French ground-based radars would go a long way toward helping Iraq monitor and defend its patrols.”
It is noteworthy that “the cost of the French Rafale deal is expected to reach about 3 billion dollars, and Iraq has already paid a down payment of 240 million dollars, while the American veto remains on Iraq’s purchase of Chinese and Russian fighter jets.”
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