Iraq aims to buy 18 F-16 fighters in

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Iraq aims to buy 18 F-16 fighters in
By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq wants to buy an initial squadron of Lockheed Martin Corp F-16 fighter aircraft this year to help guard against perceived threats from Iran and Syria after U.S. forces leave, the head of the Iraqi Air Force told Reuters on Tuesday.

Lt. Gen. Anwar Ahmed said he hoped to sign a contract for 18 advanced F-16s as the centerpiece of billions of dollars Iraq is expected to spend on arms in coming years.

"This is very important to us," he said in a telephone interview while visiting Washington. "It is a priority."

Provided funds are made available by Iraq's Parliament, he said his goal was to acquire up to 96 F-16s through 2020. He cited the F-16C/D Block 50/52 models now being produced for Poland, Israel, Greece and Pakistan.

"We need this aircraft for defense of our country," Ahmed said. He mentioned Iran as a potential threat along with Syria, which he said has been a gateway for "terrorists" aiming to destabilize the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

If the funds are freed and a deal is wrapped up this year, the first two Iraqi-piloted F-16s would be patrolling Iraqi skies by 2012, he said.

By that time, all U.S. armed forces are due to have left Iraq under a bilateral pact negotiated last year.

The Iraqi Air Force chief said the initial F-16 squadron would cost roughly $1.5 billion, including logistics, spares and pilot-training plus a trainer fleet of 15 T-6A Texan aircraft built by Hawker Beechcraft Corp.

FOLLOW-UP TALKS

Ahmed, 54, said he had met a U.S. Air Force team in Baghdad on March 18 to discuss F-16 purchases and held follow-up talks with Pentagon officials on Tuesday.

So far, he said, U.S. officials supported Iraq's push to acquire the F-16, one of the world's most advanced multirole fighters and a powerful symbol of ties to the U.S. military.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq, which advises the Iraqi Defense Ministry, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The potential sale was a government-to-government matter, said Joe Stout, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin, which has delivered more than 4,400 F-16s worldwide.

U.S. reviews of possible arms sales can take a year or more. They involve the departments of State and Defense as well as Congress and weigh power balances, technology security and other thorny issues.

Iraq's push to buy the fighter jet could spark concern about advanced arms in the hands of a country still facing major internal challenges.

Ahmed, who took over as Air Force commander on January 1, said Maliki and Iraq's defense minister, Gen. Abdel Qader Jassim, were solidly behind the acquisition of the F-16.

"In the future you leave our country," he said in imperfect English. "You must have some aircraft like the F-16 in the country."

Ahmed was to attend the third Iraq Aviation and Defense Summit, an industry conference taking place outside Washington on Wednesday and Thursday to highlight Iraq's procurement plans.

Asked whether the Iraqi Air Force would be ready to defend the country by 2012, he said it would take more time. Among other things, Iraq would have to first acquire an air defense system, more fighter jets and complete the buildup of its ground forces, he said.

"I can't give you a specific timeline" for when Iraqi forces would be capable of defending the country on their own, Ahmed said.

About 20 Iraqi Air Force cadets were being trained in the United States, including pilots, control tower technicians and logistics experts, with plans to boost this number over coming years.

So far, the U.S. Congress has been notified of potential arms sales to Iraq totaling nearly $9 billion, including the M1A1 tank by General Dynamics Corp, light armored vehicles from various contractors, armed reconnaissance helicopters from either Boeing Co or Textron Inc, and Lockheed's C-130J cargo aircraft.

The majority of the deals have been developed over the last two years, said Charles Taylor, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which administers U.S. government-to-government arms sales.

(Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Source
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE53035J20090401?sp=true