Tuesday, October 23, 2007
The New Iraqi Air Force
Putting the 'Kinetic Hurt' in Counter-Insurgency Operations (COIN)
Caravan - ISR, Light Transport, and very good at calling in the steele when they spot the bad guys on the ground.
C-130 - The backbone of IqAF Air Mobility, their fleet is growing and their crews and maintainers know how to handle these babies.
CH2000 - ISR Aircraft providing overhead protection above many of Iraq's vast resources.
IqAF F-15 - Kidding of course. No such thing. At least not for the next 5 years. Most likely won't be an F-15, but it'll be something new, fast, and sweet.
And introducing.... the new Cessna 172. No, this one's not a Photoshop. Newly arrived this week in Iraq, it's the first of many training aircraft at the new Flight Training School out here. They boxed it up for the ride on a C-17, but it's back together and ready to start training the newest IqAF pilots. It has all the latest toys Cessna has to offer, and is by far the best trainer out there for the job. I watched this baby roll off the assembly line out in Kansas.
posted by El Capitan at 10:18 AM
9 Comments:
said...
What makes it "Light Attack"?
Weapons fit?
El Capitan said...
Light Attack = It attacks lightly.
Actually, it'll be used as an interim Light Attack until the Iraqi Air Force can decide on a dedicated Light Attack Aircraft.
Southern (in)Sanity said...
That is great to see. The Iraqi Air Force seems to be coming along. Keep up the good work!
2:25 PM said...
Doing good stuff, Tony! Keep it up. Hope you're still enjoying your work.
6:41 PM said...
A King Air for light attack....does that involve chucking explosives out the rear door? Don't laugh, the Israelis did it with C-47s in 1948.
Mi-17 "Hips", a very sturdy aicraft. You can also hang a bunch of rocket and gun pods on the sides...hint, hint
Iraqi F-15s??!! More likely some refurb F-16s out of The Boneyard. Any chance their neighbor to the east will return any of those aircraft from 1991? I didn't think so....
Did any of the IL-76 AEW conversions survive? Any of those MiG-25s repairable? Mach 3 would be a rush!
Tumbleweed
Lindsay said...
Gotta love the Mi-17. Russians make some good choppers. I flew on a Baltic Airlines Mi-8 in Petersburg once and practically fell in love with the thing.
10:29 AM Jason said...
Dont forget that the Hip will also be used for logistics, which will be fantastic for emergency and quick resupplies to sustain the fight!
2:23 PM said...
That just seems so ghetto, mounting Hellfire missiles on what is normally a civilian transport.
I love it.
Homo Sapiens said...
I cant help noticing your comment about the Cessna 172 being the best light trainer out there.
How would you compare it with the Diamond DA20?
Thanks.