US OKs Providing Iraq With Aircraft Logistics Supply, Training

The US Department of Defense (Pentagon) announced that the US Department of State has approved a $140 million contract for the sale of aircraft logistics support and air force training to Iraq. According to the Pentagon, this training and logistics support includes the Iraqi fleet of C-172 and AC/RC-208 aircraft. The primary contractor for this contract will be Northrop Grumman Corporation.

This news story comes after the meeting of Prime Minister of Iraq Mohammed Shia al-Sudani with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The Iraqi prime minister arrived in the United States accompanied by a political and military delegation on April 15 and met with the US President on Monday.

By implementing this plan and contract, the Iraqi Air Force will become more dependent on the United States, and as a result, US influence in Iraq will increase. The United States can use this contract, or similar contracts that fully tie the Iraqi army to the US, as a lever of pressure on the Iraqi government in the future.

Although the United States is considered a significant power in the field of weapons and air warfare, experience has shown that this country has never been a reliable ally for Iraq. Washington, in the wake of the advance of the terrorist group ISIS in Iraq and the threat of the fall of Baghdad and the mass killing of a significant number of Iraqi people, rejected the then prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s request for help and refrained from carrying out its own military intervention.