Iraq turns its eye on Russian weapons

TR1 wrote:http://bmpd.livejournal.com/464166.html
-Because of the noise started by politicians over the deal with Russia, future large scale arms programs will not be publicized by the military.

Sujoy wrote:
It's a dilemma for Russia in a way . If it sells large quantities of arms to Iraq , a predominantly Shia state , it looses out in the more lucrative Sunni states like Qatar , UAE , Saudi Arabia and maybe even Oman and Kuwait .

Increasingly the Sunni states are looking towards Russia as a source of cutting edge weapon systems . These states spend more than 5% of their GDP on defense .

Viktor wrote:But those Suni countries are already under US control and mostly buys US weapons.

Viktor wrote:There is no need for Russia to to pick sides. It makes excellent killing machines and anybody should be able to buy some

Iraq to Get Russian Weapons by June - Minister

Russia will deliver attack helicopters and air-defense systems to Iraq before the summer, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Monday.

Iraq to Get Russian Weapons by June - Minister

a89 wrote:A few years ago the Russian government was critisised in many forums for cancelling Iraq's debt. Now it seems that the Iraqui government will make some deals to compensate, and they will get another weapon supplier, which is always handy.

Russia has signed with Iraq a contract for the delivery of KA-52 helicopters - source

Russia’s Rosoboronexport Company has concluded its first contract to supply Iraq with the Ka-52 helicopters, RIA Novosti reported from the Le Bourget aerospace show that was opened on Monday citing a source in the Russian delegation.
Speaking at a news conference, head of the delegation Alexander Mikheev said that the first contract to supply the K-52 helicopters was signed but did not mention the contract value and the country.
The contract was signed with Iraq in the framework of the 2012 agreement, the source said.
In 2012, Russia and Iraq concluded a contract to supply weapons and military equipment to a sum of $4.3 billion.
Voice of Russia, RIA Novosti

Read more: http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_06_17/Russia-has-signed-with-iraq-a-contract-for-the-delivery-of-ka-52-helicopters-source-ria-novosti-5646/

LINK

. wrote:On June 18, an Iraqi military source confirmed that the air force command will receive “Alligator” combat helicopters from Russia in the coming period.

In a statement to Al-Monitor, the source, a senior Iraqi army officer, said that "the aircraft will be of the Ka-52 and Mi-28NE models from the French Le Bourget Air Show.”


Iraq to Receive Russian Military Helicopters
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/tr/contents/articles/opinion/2013/06/iraq-army-helicopters-russia-military.html

Baghdad chooses Russian armored vehicles

During the exhibition, RAE-2013 in Nizhny Tagil Iraqi Defense Ministry delegation will discuss with representatives of Rosoboronexport and the Kurgan possibility of purchasing Russian armored vehicles

As the weekly "military-industrial complex," a source in the military-industrial complex, the Iraqi military are interested in BTR-82 armored personnel carriers, as well as options for upgrading an existing fleet of Soviet armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, set in the 1980s. During the exhibition, representatives of the Ministry of Defense of Iraq will become familiar with armored vehicles and hold closed-door talks. One reason for the interest in the Russian BTR source publication called problems with purchased earlier Ukrainian BTR-4.

http://vpk.name/news/97436_bagdad_vyibiraet_rossiiskie_btr.html

sheytanelkebir wrote:interesting news.

Whilst in theory the BTR4 is a better vehicle, the Ukrainians have really disappointed with their production schedules and quality... there was a potential $2.5Bn military agreement between Iraq and Ukraine... but its all gone to hell now.

The 6 AN32s they sold to Iraq, they tried to pass off second hand cockpit and second hand engines as "new"... which the Iraqis rejected... then they had the BTR4s, not only late but with manufacturing defects, lack of engines and jamming guns among other "problems"!!

all in all, the impression is that the Ukrainians seem to have fallen for the false stereotyping of "stupid arabs with money" when it came to dealing with Iraqis.