On Monday, June 30, the situation with the supply of Su-25 combat aircraft to Iraq began to clear up. Last week it was reported that the Iraqi government had signed an agreement with the Russian Federation for the supply of more than 10 attack aircraft. According to unofficial data, the deal could be worth up to $ 500 million. In particular, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki spoke about the conclusion of an agreement between the countries. The first 5 combat vehicles arrived in Iraq last week. Very soon, these planes can be used to attack the positions of the Sunni ISIS militants.
Sources of the newspaper "Vzglyad" note that the attack aircraft were transferred to Iraq from the strategic reserve of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. And although these aircraft were in use, perhaps some of them even managed to take part in the war in Afghanistan, now it is difficult to find something more suitable for the Iraqi army. The fact that the Su-25s sent to Baghdad were taken from the strategic reserves of the Russian Ministry of Defense was confirmed by sources at the Sukhoi Design Bureau. In an interview with Vzglyad, a KB source noted that Sukhoi did not participate in the contract, and that the attack aircraft were in Iraq, they themselves learned from the media.
The first attack aircraft, which are designed to directly support ground forces on the battlefield at any time of the day, were transferred to Iraq on June 28. It is reported that the planes were delivered to the country with the help of An-124-100 "Ruslan" from the 224th squadron of the Russian Air Force. The aircraft were delivered partially disassembled to the Al Muthanna airbase, located in the suburbs of the Iraqi capital. According to the Iraqi Defense Ministry, 5 Su-25 attack aircraft can be used in hostilities in 3-4 days.
According to the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi Air Force, Lieutenant General Anwar Ham Amin, who hosted the first batch of Russian attack aircraft, the Iraqi army is in dire need of such aircraft during such a difficult period for the country. The Lieutenant General confirmed that together with the Su-25 attack aircraft, a group of specialists from Russia arrived in Iraq for a short time, which will prepare the aircraft for use for their intended purpose. At the same time, it is not clear who will fly these aircraft. Su-25 attack aircraft were part of the Iraqi Air Force during the reign of Saddam Hussein, but since then the pilots of these machines have not had flight practice for many years.
The Iraqi Air Force, which currently does not include jet combat aircraft, is experiencing serious difficulties in the fight against ISIS militants. Despite the fact that the Iraqi Ministry of Defense signed a contract with the United States for the supply of F-16 fighters to the country back in 2011, the first 3-4 aircraft will be put into service only at the end of 2014. Another problem for the Iraqi Air Force is the lack of the necessary amount of air-to-ground ammunition, which is so necessary to fight the militant units.
Without proper aviation support, it is very difficult for the Iraqi ground forces to contain the militants. Over the past 3 weeks, ISIS rebels have taken over vast regions in western and northern Iraq. On Saturday, June 28, the Iraqi government reported that the army was able to recapture the city of Tikrit, but the rebels then denied this report. At the same time, Iraqi State Television announced the intention of government forces to launch an offensive against Mosul.
According to representatives of the Iraqi Defense Ministry, the main goal of the agreement concluded with Russia is to increase the firepower of the country's air force and the capabilities of the army as a whole to combat terrorists. In turn, the United States says that although today there are 300 American troops and UAVs in Iraq, they are used only to provide assistance to the country's government, without taking part in hostilities. At the same time, there have been no reports of Washington's intention to accelerate the delivery of previously ordered AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and F-16 fighters to the country. In this regard, Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki expressed his disappointment with the delay in these American supplies and announced the intention of Baghdad to buy military aircraft not only from the United States, but also from Russia, Great Britain and France. According to al-Maliki, in the case of timely supplies of aircraft to support the ground forces, the Iraqi army would be able to prevent the advance of the ISIS rebels inland from the very beginning.
As many observers from among those who saw the photographs of the attack aircraft transferred to Iraq say, all the vehicles are "not of the first freshness." The photographs presented by the Iraqi authorities clearly show that the Su-25 has not been painted for a long time, and in some photographs you can see rust on the fuselage. Some of the analysts even managed to discern bullet marks on the fuselage of one of the attack aircraft. Not excluding that these hits were received back in the 1980s in Afghanistan. But, despite this, for the Iraqi army, Russian attack aircraft are a real gift.
The Su-25 attack aircraft was designed to deliver massive air strikes against the forward positions of the advancing enemy forces. For its rather characteristic appearance and its combat capabilities in the Russian army, it was nicknamed "rook", "hunchbacked horse", and this machine is also sometimes called a "flying tank". All these common names fully reflect the essence of the Sukhoi design bureau: it is an armored, small, like a tank, subsonic attack aircraft, which is designed to support ground forces over the battlefield at any time of the day.
The attack aircraft can lift up to 4 tons of combat load: from the simplest unguided free-fall bombs to modern high-precision weapons. The aircraft is armed with a 30-mm automatic cannon, guided air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, unguided shells, incendiary tanks, and air bombs. The attack aircraft is able to hit both visually visible targets and those objects that only electronics can see. Machines have proven themselves in almost all modern conflicts.
During the war in Afghanistan, there were real legends about the Su-25 attack aircraft, since it was incredibly difficult to shoot down this Soviet attack aircraft. Thanks to the "rook" Alexander Rutskoi, Hero of the Soviet Union and future vice-president of Russia, was able to return back from one of his combat missions in Afghanistan. After landing, the technicians counted such a number of damage on the attack aircraft that no other aircraft in the world would simply be able to return back to the airfield.
You don't have to go far for other examples of aircraft survivability. Not so long ago, after the battle near Luhansk, the militias of Novorossiya reported that they had managed to shoot down the Ukrainian Su-25. This news caused a lot of discussions on social networks, because it is not easy to shoot down a "flying tank". But the joy of this success was quickly replaced by disappointment. Even with one completely destroyed engine, the rook was able to return to its airfield.
That is why Sukhoi believes that the delivery of the Su-25 aircraft to the Iraqi army could significantly change the course of the fighting. The representative of the Russian company noted that, despite some wornness of the transferred aircraft, the capabilities of the attack aircraft should not be underestimated. The Su-25 delivered to Iraq may not look very attractive outwardly, but this, by and large, will not affect their combat effectiveness in any way.
Vadim Kozyulin, a professor at the Academy of Military Sciences, believes that the key point of the agreement concluded between Baghdad and Moscow was the extreme interest of the Iraqi army in effective and inexpensive weapons. The United States talked a lot about supporting the Iraqi government in the fight against the separatists, but the equipment was never delivered. Moreover, the Americans constantly tried to put a spoke in the wheels of Iraqi military-technical cooperation with Russia.
Experts believe that the Iraqi Air Force needs about 25-30 Su-25 attack aircraft to begin a full-scale operation. It should also be noted that until now the Air Force of this country did not have any aircraft of this class at all. Iraq had a fleet of various modifications of MiG, Su, and French-made Mirages, but most of them were destroyed during the Iran-Iraq war, and those that remained intact were disabled during the US invasion of Iraq as early as 2003.
At the same time, there are a number of pilots in Iraq who are familiar with this technique. They are able to pilot Russian attack aircraft, since during the Iran-Iraq war, the USSR supplied Iraq with a number of such machines. However, many experts agree that there are very few such pilots left. The elite of the Iraqi Air Force under Saddam Hussein were the Sunnis, who are almost gone in the army under the current Shiite leadership. Director of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis, Alexander Khramchikhin, believes that the presence of pilots in Iraq with experience in flying the Su-25 is highly doubtful. Therefore, the question of who exactly will fly on Russian attack aircraft is currently one of the main ones. There is a possibility that Iraqi will be able to find pilots who have previously flown such aircraft in Iran or in the CIS countries, said Igor Korotchenko, head of the Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade.
The fact that Russian attack aircraft arrived in Iraq ahead of the promised F-16 fighters could be of great political significance. Back in 2011, Iraq signed a contract with the American aircraft building corporation Lockheed Martin for the supply of 36 F-16IQ Block 52 multifunctional fighters, the amount of this deal amounted to $ 5.3 billion. The first car was handed over to the Iraqi military only on June 5, 2014. In total, according to the results of 2012 alone, the United States was able to conclude about 500 various military contracts with Iraq for a total of $ 12.3 billion, marking the military-technical cooperation between the countries as "deep". True, even before the start of active hostilities by government forces against the separatists from ISIS, Baghdad complained that the United States was delaying the delivery of ordered military equipment.
Russian-Iraqi military-technical cooperation at the moment is noticeably less. According to the state company Rostec, which today includes the leading manufacturers of Russian weapons, the volume of contracts concluded with Iraq is estimated at $ 4.2 billion. At the same time, the bulk of this amount falls on the supply of helicopters. The contracts concluded with Iraq provide for the supply of various modifications of Mi-28 helicopters, MiG and Su aircraft, as well as modern air defense systems and armored vehicles to the country.
