Iraq turns its eye on Russian weapons

4 x MI-35
3 x MI-28

delivered to Iraq

Russia to provide additional Su-25 fighters to Iraq by September

Su-25
5 from Russia.
7 from Iran
5-10 from Russia, coming in September.
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Iraq will have ~22 Su-25s in no time.

Iraqi Ministry of Defense took delivery of the first batch of Su-25 strike-fighters

The first batch of Su-25 strike-fighters was delivered from Russia to Iraq, ITAR-TASS reports with reference to Iraqi Ministry of Defense.

"Under the contract with Russia the first batch of five Su-25 strike-fighters was delivered to Iraq", - the ministry noted.

Iraqi Ministry of Defense said that the jets will help “increase the combat effectiveness of the country’s air forces” in the network of its anti-terrorism effort.

Su-25 jets were delivered to Iraq by An-124-100 aircraft operated by Russian air forces. The jets were delivered to the customer in a dismantled state. The Iraqi ministry posted a video at its website showing the unloading of the aircraft. One of the officers of Iraqi air forces said that the vehicles will be put into operation in 3 or 4 days. The jets will provide support for the army fighting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group. He also noted that Russian specialists will be taking part in maintenance of the delivered jets.

Su-25 is the Russian strike-fighter designed to provide close air support for the army and destroy targets with a fixed coordinates under any weather conditions.

Situation in Iraq became critical in early June after Sunni militants from ISIL terrorist group connected with Al-Qaeda and local radical groups loyal to them attacked the northern part of the country and captured a number of cities.

Military-technical cooperation with Iraq


A Russian delegation headed by Rosneft President Igor Sechin and Rostec State Corporation Director General Sergey Chemezov visited Iraq on April 16. Interstate cooperation, and, especially, exploring opportunities of joint projects in military-technical cooperation, power generation and engineering became the burning issues of the visit.

The Russian delegation representatives conducted negotiations with Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the country’s National Security Advisor Faleh al-Fayad and Oil Minister Abdul al-Luaibi.

“Russia has an extensive experience in cooperating with countries in the Middle East, and Iraq is one of our new large customers. We are interested in seeing our defense equipment implemented exclusively for protection of the country’s citizens and enforcement of Iraq’s sovereignty,” Mr. Chemezov said.

Besides, the bilateral military-technical cooperation provides for planned localisation of service maintenance for the equipment supplied. This is another step towards implementation of Rostec State Corporation’s strategy for development of global after-sale service.

The Iraqi officials also expressed interest in Russian civil automotive products, especially in the KAMAZ line of heavy commercial vehicles.

Another area discussed during the negotiations between the Russian delegation and members of the Iraqi government was cooperation in development of power generation. The parties discussed the possibility of resuming construction of the second stage of Yusufiyah thermal power plant. This stage of the project involves construction of six power generating units with the capacity of 210 MW each. The project is operated by Rostec subsidiary Technopromexport, which has upgraded Hartha power plant and built the first stage of Yusufiyah under contract worth more than $550 million.

The largest contracts in the area of military technical cooperation currently being fulfilled are those for Russian rotorcraft equipment procurement at $4.2 billion.

During the negotiations Rosneft offered to perform technical audits of operating facilities by Rosneft and support geologic exploration and development of new oil fields.

“Iraq has high potential for oil production, which, however, can be performed only in conditions of stability. We strongly believe that joint bilateral projects will help to develop the economy effectively and thus considerably facilitate normalisation of the country’s political environment,” Mr. Sechin said.

Iraq really needs help right now, the US is sending their forces to help the ISIL terrorists out. Hopefully Russia can speed up the delivery of the weapons and if Russia would be open to spending Special Forces to help the Malki government.

par far wrote:Iraq really needs help right now, the US is sending their forces to help the ISIL terrorists out. Hopefully Russia can speed up the delivery of the weapons and if Russia would be open to spending Special Forces to help the Malki government.  

Putting ground troops isn't that required, it would be a mess as well.

However, I think Iraq would welcome VVS air-ground life training in Iraq, Russian SU-25's and SU-34's can have their training.

Al distoor newspaper wrote an article discussing a new arms purchase by Iraq from Russia.

The deal is for $1.6Bn

It is intended for use by the land forces.

The items included are:
Multiple Rocket Launchers
Automatic cannons to be mounted on 4x4 vehicles and armoured vehicles.
Surface to Surface missiles

Very interesting, any info or speculation as to what types?

MRLS- more BM-21, BM-30 Smerch?
Automatic cannons-???
SSM- Iskander-E?!

I don't know exactly what the SSM Iskander would be useful for with conventional warheads, all those SCUDS were useless during the Iran-Iraq war

iraqidabab wrote:I don't know exactly what the SSM Iskander would be useful for with conventional warheads, all those SCUDS were useless during the Iran-Iraq war

Maybe time- sensitive targets?
I remember reading somewhere that Iran used BMs in some operations against terrorists, don't remember against who exactly (PJAK maybe?)
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to mack8
"Automatic cannons-???"

That's probably Vasilek automatic mortar.

Oh, the Scud has a CEP of what, 1-2 km? The Iskander is light-years more accurate, it's CEP measures mere meters, i think 5-7m for the russian version. Not sure what is the CEP of the export version, i'm sure Iskander experts here can help, but regardless, it would be an accurate weapon to take out any significant jihadist targets, deep behind the front lines where they think they are safe. They would have no defence against it whatsoever and it could react and be on target in minutes, even compared to an aircraft not to mention helos. Would probably work best with satellite and high altitude surveillance, as soon as any significant jihadist objective or stationary group is detected, send an Iskander their way...

mack8 wrote:Oh, the Scud has a CEP of what, 1-2 km? The Iskander is light-years more accurate, it's CEP measures mere meters, i think 5-7m for the russian version. Not sure what  is the CEP of the export version, i'm sure Iskander experts here can help, but regardless, it would be an accurate weapon to take out any significant jihadist targets, deep behind the front lines where they think they are safe. They would have no defence against it whatsoever and it could react and be on target in minutes, even compared to an aircraft not to mention helos. Would probably work best with satellite and high altitude surveillance, as soon as any significant jihadist objective or stationary group is detected, send an Iskander their way...

Export version : 30-70 meter CEP says wiki

I know it is useful after all, it's another capability but I fear Iraq's military will use it in unwise ways like the Syrians, random attacks on cities which will be useless.

iraqidabab wrote:I don't know exactly what the SSM Iskander would be useful for with conventional warheads, all those SCUDS were useless during the Iran-Iraq war

The comparison to Scud with Iskander-K is like the comparison between S-75 with the S-400...Iskander-K is literally orders of magnitude better than Scud, here's some reasons:

The Iskander road mobile missile system is equipped with two short-range ballistic missiles, which substantially increases firepower of missile units. Each missile can be independently targeted. System is capable of hitting moving targets, as target coordination can be adjusted while missile is in-flight. The Iskander has several different conventional warheads, including cluster, fuel-air explosive, bunker-busting and electro-magnetic pulse. Maximum range of fire is estimated to be 280 km. Minimum range is 50 km.
 
The Iskander was designed to overcome air defense systems. Missile files at supersonic speed *note Iskander ballistic missile actually flies at hypersonic speed at reported speed of Mach 7-8, this is an editorial error on the information page*, excessively maneuvers in the terminal phase of the flight and releases decoys. In some cases this ballistic missile can be used as an alternative to precision bombing.
 
Missiles can be launched 16 minutes from traveling or 4 minutes from highest readiness. The second missile can be launched in less than a minute once the first missile is launched.
 
The transport-erector-launcher (TEL) vehicle uses MZKT-7930 Astrolog 8x8 high mobility chassis. It is powered by the YaMZ-846 diesel engine, developing 500 hp. Vehicle can be airlifted by the An-124 transport aircraft.
 
The Iskander TEL is supported by a reloading vehicle, based on the same 8x8 chassis, which carries two reload missiles. Full missile system also includes command vehicle, information preparation vehicle, maintenance and repair vehicle and life support vehicle. All of these vehicles are based on KamAZ 6x6 trucks.

Variants

  Iskander-E, export version, specially designed to meet MTCR restrictions. It a maximum range of 280 km. This missile is fitted with internal guidance system and has a CEP of 30 - 70 m. This missile system has been exported to Syria (26 units);
 
Iskander-M improved version adopted by the Russian Army. It's estimated maximum range is 400 km. It is worth mentioning that this range can be extended, however this will violate INF Treaty. This ballistic missile is also fitted with both internal and optical guidance and has significantly improved firing accuracy. It has a claimed CEP of only 2 m. Optical seeker provides self-homing capability. This improved version can also launch R-500 Iskander-K cruise missiles in the same manner as ballistic missiles. This cruise missile has a range of 500 km.

http://www.military-today.com/missiles/iskander.htm

Both Iskander and Smerch are extremely heavy, extremely effective weapons. They are game changers. I find it absolutely unthinkable for Russia to make such a step now,
it is just a little less razor than giving an atom bomb to Iran in a gift box. I would certainly expect Jews to cut diplomatic relations after such a step.

I am guessing the bulk of the orders are for cannons (23mm and 14.5mm maybe?) As well as various mlrs... I seriously doubt Iraqis are buying iskander. I am guessing they may refer to some of the heavier mlrs as surface to surface missiles.

Perhaps the order includes the 4x4s they mentioned... Or maybe they are fitted to vehicles sourced somewhere else.

Hannibal Barca wrote:Both Iskander and Smerch are extremely heavy, extremely effective weapons. They are game changers. I find it absolutely unthinkable for Russia to make such a step now,
it is just a little less razor than giving an atom bomb to Iran in a gift box. I would certainly expect Jews to cut diplomatic relations after such a step.

Even Kuwait has Smerch, Iskander is acceptable by MCTR standards can't reach Israel from Iraqi borders, it can from Southern Lebanon maybe that might be trouble for Israel though I doubt it will be transferred to Iran.

The video with the Su-25 showed only unguided iron bombs.

The bomb with the flat front with a corner on its front edge is an old FAB-250 of the 1954 type.

the more rounded aerodynamic model looks like a 1962 model more streamlined weapon but I suspect it is the ODAB-250, which has the 1962 streamlined shape and a FAE filler.

The Su-25 is designed to get in close to kill targets and is very effective even with dumb unguided bombs and rockets.

Those metal things they put in the nose of the bombs are standard fuses for aerial bombs.

sheytanelkebir wrote:I am guessing the bulk of the orders are for cannons (23mm and 14.5mm maybe?) As well as various mlrs... I seriously doubt Iraqis are buying iskander. I am guessing they may refer to some of the heavier mlrs as surface to surface missiles.

Perhaps the order includes the 4x4s they mentioned... Or maybe they are fitted to vehicles sourced somewhere else.

I am thinking also lots of KORD 12.7mm (.50 cal.) machine guns

yes. my personal guess this new deal includes:

-12.7mm machine guns (and lots of them)
-14.5mm twins
-23mm twins
-maybe some 2A42s? for their APCs?

some MLRS from russian stocks mainly:
-BM21
-BM27 Uragan which is what they really need!
-BM30 Smerch in small quantities (and probably what they called "surface to surface missile")


Whether the Iraqis also bought some russian 4x4 vehicles with them is another question... they need to match the mobility, reliability and small dimensions of the terrorists on their Toyota Landcruiser pick up variants. The fact that they tried driving bleeding M113s and ABRAMS tanks on narrow canal levees (with predictably disastrous results) has hopefully taught them a bloody painful lesson.

Iraqi minister of defence in Moscow now. Arms sales on a massive scale are on the cards including both new weapons as well as stock weapons for immediate use.

How massive, what kind of gear is in on the table? Did you heard anything from iraqi sources about when the first Mi-28s and Pantsirs (and other gear) should be delivered? Let us know if you find out more Sheytan, thanks.

Don't know anything. Presumably the cannons and mlrs are part of it, as well as aircraft which seems to be the main focus of the Iraqis now. Let's see what they will agree on...

Also last week Ukrainian delegation was in Iraq. I wonder what they discussed... But I would bet that engines for helos would be high up on that list as well as ordnance for aircraft (fabs and s8 rockets mostly).

Iraqi shopping lists are very predictable now. Helos, attack aircraft, ordnance for them, light cannons for technicals as well as mrls...

Probably contracts for new fighter aircrafts and air defenses as well

Notnso sure about air defences unless they are worried about Saudis getting directly involved on the terrorists side.

saudis don't do anything offensive with their air force, just defensive

but they've been looking for air defenses for a long time, this crisis won't last forever and they will need air defenses one day ( takes years anyway ).