Islam Times - Iraq Seeks to Purchase Anti-Aircraft Weapons

Islam Times - Iraq is in the process of purchasing anti-aircraft weapons through sending military and technical delegations to several countries to explore its options, a spokesperson to the prime minister said on Monday.

“Iraq has contracted French radars and a batch of them has arrived, and we are proceeding to complete the radar systems in general, including low, medium, and high-range radars,” Major General Yahya Rasool, military spokesperson to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, told state media.

Rasool noted that the Iraqi military and technical delegation have visited several countries to review their anti-aircraft weapons and offered to purchase the systems, without specifically revealing the countries.

“The Air Defense Command is capable of radar detection and monitoring the movement of aircraft within Iraqi airspace,” Rasool stressed.

Hussein Hashim al-Amiri, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee, told state media that work is underway to complete the necessary infrastructure to implement the GM403 radar contract with the French company Thales in the provinces of Nineveh, Kirkuk, Baghdad, and Diwaniya.

The contract's first phase will cost Baghdad €160 million and “has been installed tactically,” according to Amiri.