May 16-2014
If Israel really wants to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites, maybe it better do that in the next three months—because in September the United States will start sending Iraq F-16s to build its Air Force.
Except for some helicopters and small planes, Iraq has not had an air force since the United States buried it in 2003. Until the United States withdrew from Iraq two years ago, the US Air Force protected the skies of Iraq.
But for now, the sky is open for Israeli jets to fly back and forth over Iraq if they choose. To strike Iran, Israel would have to refuel its combat jets once along the way. A logical plan would have the combat planes suck up fuel from aerial tankers over Iraq where there is no threat. But starting in September, those tankers will be sitting ducks.
The Israelis must still whiz across Jordan. They could face a threat coming back when the Jordanians would have been alerted. But, on the other hand, Jordan might not want to object to an attack on Iran the way a Shia-led government in Iraq would feel a need to object.
The first two F-16s are slated to arrive in Iraq this September, according to the US State Department.
By the fall of 2017, Iraq will have received 36 F-16 fighters, said Mark Johnson, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the F-16.
To date, 11 Iraqi pilots have trained to fly F-16s at Tucson, according to the Air Force. Capt. Mohammed Hama Ameen became the first Iraqi pilot to graduate Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training for the Iraqi Air Force F-16 program in March 2012.
Currently, the Iraqis have some Cessna C-208 propeller-driven aircraft, which can be equipped with Hellfire missiles, and they have thin-skinned attack helicopters.
