Aviation
Military /
Middle East
Did F-16 fall behind?
US fighters from the Iraqi Air Force can be replaced by Russian aircraft
MiG-29
Artem Katranzhi from Bakashikha, Russia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Gabriela Ramos
5/15/2021
The Iraqi Air Force will be able to replace its F-16 fighters with more developed Russian aircraft, according to information from the Military Watch portal. The Iraqi fleet currently has 34 F-16 fighters, manufactured in the United States.
The reason for this exchange is the fact that the maintenance of fighters of American origin depends on technical teams from the United States that will soon be withdrawn from Iraq due to political changes.
Iraqi officials said last year that they needed to acquire Russian fifth-generation fighters, the Su-57s, but due to their high cost, that possibility had to be ruled out. However, the MiG-29 and MiG-35 can be of great use in assisting Iraq, in addition to providing experience so that the country can operate the most advanced fighters, such as the Su-57.
Another attraction is the fact that the MiG-29 is equipped with R-77 air-to-air guided missiles, similar to the United States' AIM-120C missiles, which were not offered to Iraq. As such, Russian fighters can be of great use and effectiveness for the Iraqi Air Force, which has been increasingly acquiring Russian weapon systems.
In addition, Baghdad is considering the possibility of acquiring the S-400, the Russian air defense system.
Such a replacement is consistent with previous reports that Iraq would have been disappointed and regretted buying the F-16s, which proved to be of little use to the country's Air Force, in terms of its combat capability and agility.
Anyway, these dissatisfactions with the F-16, a plane proven by countless air forces all over the world with one of the best cost-benefits of generation 4 to 4, sound a little strange.
MiG-29
Vitaly V. Kuzmin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Gabriela Ramos
Gabriela is the latest addition to the editorial team of our website, having provided us with her solid background in editing, publishing and photography, and her interest and training in aviation history and historiography. His good taste and common sense and great cleverness and sagacity in the selection of themes and materials greatly enriched our vocabulary and narrative style. Gabriela brought unusual predicates and came to stay, helping to point the way of success of our portal.
   
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