France provides combat training to the Iraqi Air Force 

"The drill will add greatly to the success of the Iraqi Air Force in the fight against Daesh"
French Air Force Dassault Rafale jet training alongside Iraqi F-16 in September 2021. (Photo: Armée française - Opérations militaires via Twitter)
French Air Force Dassault Rafale jet training alongside Iraqi F-16 in September 2021. (Photo: Armée française - Opérations militaires via Twitter)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – France recently sent two of its fighter jets to Iraq to give that country's air force combat training.  

Two French Air Force Dassault Rafale multirole fighters held a drill with two Iraqi F-16 jet fighter-bombers.

Col. Wayne Marotto, the spokesman for the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS), extolled the exercise in a tweet on Saturday, saying it will help enhance the Iraqi air arm's ability to strike ISIS.

"Recently, 2 French Rafale jets alongside 2 Iraqi F-16 jets conducted air-to-air combat training to boost Iraqi pilots' combat capability & enhance Iraqi airpower," he tweeted. "The drill will add greatly to the success of the Iraqi Air Force in the fight against Daesh (ISIS) #Chammal."

Chammel refers to Opération Chammel, the French military's ongoing campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. 

Col. Marotto did not elaborate on how "air-to-air combat training" would improve the Iraqi air force's ability to target ISIS since that group does not have an air force. However, it has used small homemade drones rigged with explosives before. Also, militia groups in Iraq have acquired armed military-grade drones in recent years.

Iraq's air defenses are minimal. Aside from some mobile Russian-built Pantsir-S1 medium-range surface-to-air missiles, it lacks any serious air defenses. It also doesn't have any long-range AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles for its F-16s.

Iraq purchased 36 F-16s from the United States and began taking delivery of them in July 2015. Two were lost in training accidents in the United States. Numerous reports over the past year indicate that a large part of the fleet is grounded due to lack of maintenance and technical support. F-16 manufacturer Lockheed Martin is reluctant to base personnel in the country given the threat posed by militia rockets to Balad Air Base in Anbar province. 

Nevertheless, Iraqi F-16s occasionally carry out airstrikes against suspected ISIS remnants in the country.

-- Paul Iddon