Iraq seeks French drones and jets, additional Russian tanks

BEIRUT — Iraq’s military is seeking several defense systems of different origins, including French Rafale fighter jets, drones and artillery, as well as Russian T-90 tanks , with some ongoing negotiations reaching an advanced stage.

“France has offered to sell 20 drones; currently the Iraqi [Ministry of Defence] is undertaking technical analysis,” Norman Ricklefs, who leads geopolitical consultancy NAMEA Group and was previously an adviser to Iraq’s interior minister and to the secretary general of the MoD, told Defense News.

An Iraqi delegation is scheduled to visit France in the near future to inspect the drones.

Ricklefs, who has recently spoken to Iraqi defense officials about the procurement plans, said there isn’t yet a contract for the drones. At this point, he believes the delegation will “perform a quality check” on the unmanned systems.

The French Armed Forces Ministry did not respond to several requests for comment on the visit, nor on the types or numbers of aircraft that might be offered.

In a January interview by the Iraqi News Agency with the chief of the country’s land forces, he revealed the negotiations to procure French drones. “Iraq is negotiating many contracts including armed drones capable of flying for 30 hours in Iraqi airspace and of addressing targets and continuously monitoring various regions, with proven ability and effectiveness,” Lt. Gen Qasim Al-Muhammadi said.

Ricklefs said Iraq is also in negotiations for Pakistani UAVs. “Pakistan has also offered to sell Iraq 20 drones, but the MoD is still analyzing the offer,” he told Defense News.

Additionally, Al-Muhammadi said in the interview, “there are plans to increase the number of tanks and increase the divisions and brigades in order to increase the capabilities of the Iraqi Army.” The service currently operates American Abrams and Russian T-90 tanks, he added.

Ricklefs noted that the MoD is seeking additional T-90 tanks from Russia, having already ordered 73 2016. The Iraqi MoD announced in June 2018 that, as part the order’s first batch, 39 of those T-90S tanks were delivered to the 9th Division’s 35th Brigade. This brigade was equipped with M1 Abrams tanks, but they were transferred to the 34th Brigade after the T-90 delivery, the ministry has said.

“There are excellent artillery systems with high accuracy that will be imported from France, in addition to weapon systems equipped with night goggles,” Al-Muhammadi said in the interview. “There are many contracts signed by Iraq to procure equipment, some of which have already arrived at the national port, and others are still under production.”

In terms of local production, he described “a serious desire to develop Iraqi weapons, and there are projects that have been launched already to enable us to manufacture systems ourselves.”

“There is competition between the East and the West to prove their systems’ capabilities, and as armed forces, we support armament sources diversification,” he added.

For its part, the Iraqi Air Force is seeking French Rafale fighter jets. In September 2021, the chairman of the Security and Defense Committee of Iraq’s parliament, Mohammed Redha al-Haidar, revealed Iraq and Paris signed a contract for the aircraft.

“The Iraqi Air Force is intending to purchase 14 French Rafale fighter jets at a cost of $240 million, which will be paid in oil rather than cash,” Ricklefs told Defense News about the deal.

He also said the Air Force is nearing the purchase of Super Mushshak fighter/trainer aircraft, but he was unable to provide further details.

Vivienne Machi in Stuttgart, Germany, contributed to this report.

Agnes Helou was a Middle East correspondent for Defense News. Her interests include missile defense, cybersecurity, the interoperability of weapons systems and strategic issues in the Middle East and Gulf region.

贝鲁特——伊拉克军方正在寻求采购多种不同来源的防御系统，包括法国的阵风战斗机、无人机和火炮，以及俄罗斯的T-90坦克，其中一些正在进行的谈判已进入后期阶段。

“法国已提出出售 20 架无人机；目前伊拉克国防部正在进行技术分析，”领导地缘政治咨询公司 NAMEA Group 的诺曼·里克尔夫斯告诉《防务新闻》。里克尔夫斯此前曾担任伊拉克内政部长和国防部秘书长的顾问。

伊拉克代表团计划在近期访问法国，对无人机进行考察。

里克尔夫斯最近与伊拉克国防官员就采购计划进行了交谈，他表示目前尚未签订无人机采购合同。他认为，代表团现阶段将对这些无人系统进行“质量检查”。

法国武装部队部没有回应多次关于此次访问的置评请求，也没有回应关于可能提供的飞机类型或数量的置评请求。

伊拉克通讯社1月份对该国陆军司令卡西姆·穆罕默迪中将的采访中，他透露了伊拉克正在就采购法国无人机进行谈判。穆罕默迪中将表示：“伊拉克正在就多项合同进行谈判，其中包括能够在伊拉克领空飞行30小时、打击目标并持续监控多个区域的武装无人机，这些无人机拥有久经考验的能力和效能。”

里克尔夫斯表示，伊拉克也在与巴基斯坦就无人机采购进行谈判。“巴基斯坦也提出向伊拉克出售20架无人机，但伊拉克国防部仍在分析这一提议，”他告诉《防务新闻》。

此外，穆罕默迪在采访中表示，“我们计划增加坦克数量，扩充师级和旅级单位，以提升伊拉克军队的作战能力。”他还补充说，伊拉克军队目前装备有美制艾布拉姆斯主战坦克和俄制T-90坦克。

里克尔夫斯指出，伊拉克国防部正在向俄罗斯寻求更多T-90坦克，此前已于2016年订购了73辆。伊拉克国防部于2018年6月宣布，作为首批订单的一部分，其中39辆T-90S坦克已交付给第9师第35旅。该旅此前装备的是M1艾布拉姆斯坦克，但在T-90坦克交付后，这些坦克已移交给第34旅。

“我们将从法国进口精度极高的优秀火炮系统，以及配备夜视镜的武器系统，”穆罕默迪在采访中说道。“伊拉克已经签署了许多采购合同，其中一些已经运抵国家港口，另一些仍在生产中。”

在谈到本地生产时，他表示“我们非常渴望发展伊拉克武器，并且已经启动了一些项目，使我们能够自己制造武器系统。”

“东西方都在竞相证明各自系统的能力，作为武装部队，我们支持武器来源多样化，”他补充道。

伊拉克空军方面则希望采购法国“阵风”战斗机。2021年9月，伊拉克议会安全与国防委员会主席穆罕默德·雷达·海达尔透露，伊拉克和巴黎已签署了采购该型战机的合同。

里克尔夫斯在接受《防务新闻》采访时表示：“伊拉克空军计划以 2.4 亿美元的价格购买 14 架法国阵风战斗机，这笔款项将以石油而不是现金支付。”

他还表示，空军即将采购超级穆沙克战斗/教练机，但他无法提供更多细节。

德国斯图加特的薇薇安·马奇对本报道亦有贡献。

阿格尼斯·赫卢曾任《防务新闻》中东记者。她的研究领域包括导弹防御、网络安全、武器系统互操作性以及中东和海湾地区的战略问题。