By John Lee. Iraq is to buy more than $4.2 billion of weapons from Russia under contracts signed in recent months, the Russian government announced on Wednesday, making it the largest weapons supplier to the Middle East country after the United States. While a spokesman for Russia's state-controlled arms exporter, Rosvooruzheniye, said it never discusses […]
By John Lee. Russia's Pravda reports that Iraq may be about to buy $5 billion worth of MiG fighter jets, Russian helicopters, anti-aircraft missile systems, armored vehicles and other weapons. Between 2008 and 2011 Baghdad purchased Russian weapons worth $246 million dollars, most of which were helicopters. In the same period, deliveries of weapons and […]
By John Lee. Iraq has taken delivery of last nine American M1A1 Abrams tanks from the order of 140 that it has received over the past two years. AFP reports that the tanks are valued at $860 million, $804 million of which was paid by Iraq with the remainder of the cost borne by the […]
By John Lee. Reuters reports that Iraq's acting Minister for Defence, Sadoun al-Dulaimi (Sadun al-Dulaymi) (pictured), has been in Russia to negotiate the purchase of air surveillance equipment. Hakim al-Zamili, a member of the parlimantary security and defence committee, told the news agency: "There is a delegation, headed by the minister of defence and the commander […]
By John Lee. An un-named Iraqi security official has reportedly accused the president of the Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani (pictured), of secretly buying a large supply of heavy munitions from a foreign country. Iran's PressTV says the arms included anti-tank missiles and large quantities of heavy weapons. The official said that Iraqi authorities have "all […]
By John Lee. The second deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament said Iraq needs to build and provide public services rather than buy heavy weapons, according to a report from AKnews. Commenting on the visit of Iraq's Defense Minister Sadoun al-Dlemi [Sadoun al-Dulaimi, Sadun al-Dulaymi] to Russia to buy heavy weapons, Arf Taifur expressed his surprise […]
By John Lee. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on Sunday for the US to speed up the transfer of weapons to Iraq, which lacks the ability to defend its airspace or borders. UPI reports that during a meeting with General James Mattis, the visiting head of US Central Command, the Iraqi premier also pointedly […]
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin, said on Tuesday that both Libya and Iraq continue to show interest in buying Russian-made weaponry despite regime changes in these countries. According to RIA, the minister, who oversees the Russian defense industry, told reporters in Moscow: “The Libyan military leadership and the Iraqi government have shown serious interest […]
Premier Nouri al-Maliki called on South Korea to provide Iraq with military training planes, as well cooperation in other armaments, according to Aswat al-Iraq. During his meeting with South Korean State Minister for Military Industries, Nu D Lee, Maliki called for activation of all contracts signed with the Korean side, in addition to supporting projects […]
An arms deal under which Iraq would buy $13 billion in American weapons has been recommended for cancellation by the Iraqi parliament’s integrity committee, reports AKnews. The deal has been criticized for involving extensive financial corruption. A member of the committee, Aliya Nussaif, told AKnews that the parliament has passed a request by the committee […]
