C-130E Hercules
The Iraqi Air Force (IQAF) is being rebuilt as part of the overall program to build a new Iraqi defense force. In December 2004, the Iraqi ministry of defense signed two contracts worth 132 million USD. The IQAF is scheduled to be expanded to 3,000 personnel by early 2008.
The Air Force primarily serves as a light reconnaissance and transport operation. On March 4, 2007, the IQAF carried out its first medical evacuation in the city of Baghdad when an injured police officer was airlifted to a hospital.
In 2007, the USAF’s Second Air Force, part of the Air Education and Training Command, was given responsibility to provide curricula and advice to the Iraqi Air Force as it stands up its own technical training and branch specific basic training among others. This mission is known as "CAFTT" for Coalition Air Forces Technical Training.
Serbia will deliver 35 Lasta-95 training propeller airplanes of domestic production to Iraq.
It will be interesting to see is Iraq will incorporate UAVs into their Air Force. I think it is more likely in near future that they will adopt the use of small observational UAVs like the US Raven. However these small UAVs tend to be more effective when directly incorporated into Army units. – Ian Bach.
Active Squadrons
- 2nd Squadron – A helicopter airlift squadron operating two UH-1H Huey helicopters donated by Jordan. The squadron is scheduled to have 8 UH-1H helicopters, to be in service by the end of 2006.
- 3rd Squadron – A helicopter airlift squadron operating two Bell 206 helicopters donated by the UAE Air Force in a light utility role.
- 4th Squadron – A helicopter airlift squadron scheduled to receive 8 UH-1H helicopters in 2006.
- 23rd Squadron – An airlift squadron operating 3 ex-USAF C-130E Hercules transport aircraft.
- 70th Squadron – A reconnaissance squadron operating 6 CH-2000 & 2 SB7L-360A light reconnaissance aircraft.
Aircraft inventory
| Aircraft | Origin | Type | Versions | In service | Notes |
| Cessna 172 | United States | utility | 18 | to be delivered in 2007 | |
| Bell UH-1H Iroquois | United States | light-lift utility helicopter | Huey II | 16 | |
| Bell 206 JetRanger | United States | utility helicopter | 5 | ||
| Jordan Aerospace SAMA CH2000 | Jordan | liaison | CH2000 | 8 | 8 more to be delivered |
| Lockheed C-130 Hercules | United States | tactical airlift/ transport | C-130E | 3 | |
| Mil Mi-17 Hip-H | Soviet Union/ Russia | medium-lift transport helicopter | Mi-171 | 4 | |
| Beechcraft King Air 350 | United States | surveillance and reconnaissance | 350ER | 0 | 24 on order |
| Seabird Seeker | Australia | reconnaissance | SB7L-360A | 2 | currently grounded |
Unknowns
The following is a list of several pre-war types that have been reported on inventory or in storage. The condition of the following airplanes is relatively unknown. Most of these are likely to currently be non-operational. Many of these are still in production and should be able to be refurbished.
- Combat Aircrafts
- 80 Chengdu F-7 Airguard – This is a Chinese version with updated avionics of the Russian Mig 21.
- 53 Dassault Mirage F1
- 5 Dassault Super Etendard (These have been reported as returned to France after the arrival of the first Mirage F1EQ-5 fighters.)
- Training Aircrafts
- Transport Aircrafts
- Attack Helicopters
- Transport Helicopters
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