DefenceTalkIraq took collection Thursday night of the first four Russian-made Mi-35 helicopter gunships sold to the Middle Eastern nation as part of a multibillion dollar weapons deal. Iraqi leader Nuri al-Maliki posted pictures of the aircraft on his official Facebook page. Abbas al-Bayati, a lawmaker with al-Maliki’s ruling faction in parliament, told RIA Novosti that […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iraq-takes-collection-of-first-4-russian-mi-35-helicopter-gunships-49609/

DefenceTalkThe United States provided Iraq with intelligence on preparations for an Iranian offensive during the Iran-Iraq war even though it knew Baghdad would respond with chemical weapons, Foreign Policy magazine reported Monday. Citing declassified CIA documents and interviews with former officials, the magazine reviewed the US record as Washington weighs military action against Syria for […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-gave-iraq-intel-in-1980s-ignored-chemical-attacks-report-48910/

DefenceTalkThe Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress today of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of 50 M1135 Stryker Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicles and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of $900 million. The Government of Iraq has requested a possible sale of 50 M1135 Stryker Nuclear, […]https://www.defencetalk.com/m1135-stryker-nbc-reconnaissance-vehicles-for-iraq-48598/

DefenceTalkIran’s role in flashpoints like Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan is proving a headache for the West as it tries to normalise ties with Tehran without a trade-off on its contested nuclear drive. As the Islamic republic prepares for presidential elections on Friday to choose a successor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose eight years in office […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iran-nuclear-push-flashpoints-role-has-west-in-a-bind-48098/

DefenceTalkBaghdad has warned Israel that it would respond to any attempts by the Jewish state to use Iraqi airspace for a strike against Iran’s controversial nuclear programme, a top Iraqi minister told AFP. The remarks from Hussein al-Shahristani, deputy prime minister responsible for energy affairs, mark the first time a senior Iraqi official has publicly […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iraq-warns-israel-on-using-airspace-in-iran-strike-48016/

DefenceTalkRussia has started fulfilling its recent arms exports contract with Iraq after receiving an advance payment from Baghdad, Russian Technologies (Rostech) CEO Sergei Chemezov said. “The contract is being implemented, the production [of ordered equipment] has started,” Chemezov told RIA Novosti at the opening ceremony of a Russian grenade-launcher assembly facility in Jordan on Thursday. […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-receives-payment-under-iraqi-arms-deal-47971/

DefenceTalkThe Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost the United States between $4-6 trillion in the long term, constraining the government’s budget for decades to come, a study said. Harvard University scholar Linda Bilmes concluded that the United States will face increasing costs to care for an estimated 2.5 million veterans, and to pay down debt […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iraq-afghan-wars-to-cost-us-up-to-6-trillion-study-47307/

DefenceTalkA senior Iraqi lawmaker on Thursday accused Ukraine of delivering low-quality armored personnel carriers and breaching the delivery terms of a contract signed in 2009. “A probe into Ukrainian arms deliveries to Iraq revealed corruption with regard to Part 3 of the contract, concerning the sale of 420 armored personnel carriers, of which only about […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iraq-accuses-ukraine-of-selling-inferior-armored-vehicles-47001/

DefenceTalkThe U.S. Navy delivered two more 35-meter patrol boats (PB-310 and PB-311) to the Iraqi navy at the Umm Qasr naval facility in Iraq, Feb. 17, after each craft successfully completed reactivation in Bahrain. These are the 10th and 11th vessels in the 12-boat procurement which will assist in reconstituting Iraq’s ability to enforce maritime […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-navy-delivers-two-coastal-patrol-boats-to-iraq-46915/

DefenceTalkTurkey sent jets across its border with Iraq to strike separatists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a local military source said Thursday. The jets bombed 12 targets in the Kandil Mountains in the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq on Wednesday, the source told AFP without providing any casualty figures. Pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency […]https://www.defencetalk.com/turkish-jets-strike-kurd-rebels-in-iraq-military-source-46901/