Iraq Set To Spend Billions On New Weapons As US Breaks Up Anti-Chopper Cell

IRAQ WARS

US Breaks Up Network Behind Attacks Of Choppers
Washington (AFP) May 21 - The United States has broken up a network of Iraqi insurgents behind a string of recent attacks on US combat helicopters, USA Today reported Monday. Citing the Army top aviation officer in Iraq, Major General James Simmons, the newspaper said some insurgent teams were killed when US helicopters flew over ambush sites and fired on them. "I don't think they anticipated our rapid and very capable response to them," Simmons was quoted in the report as saying. Simmons didn't identify when the raids took place or the number of insurgents killed or captured, but he said it was fewer than 100, the paper said. A surge in fatal attacks on US helicopters early this year threatened to hamper flight operations and generated headlines for insurgent groups, USA Today said. Enemy fighters shot down six military helicopters in January and February, killing 23 servicemembers. Heavy machine guns were used in four attacks and small arms in one assault. A missile was used to down one of the six helicopters, according to the report. Two private contractor helicopters were also shot down during that time.

by Staff Writers
Baghdad (AFP) May 21, 2007
Iraq's defence ministry will buy new weapons worth more than 1.5 billion dollars (1.11 billion euros), including helicopters and US rifles, the minister announced on Monday.

The purchases will be made possible by a 26 percent increase in the country's defence budget, to 4.1 billion dollars (three billion euros) for the current fiscal year.

"The Iraqi government has signed a contract with the American government to set up a foreign weapons sales office to buy weapons that Iraq needs," Defence Minister Abdel Qader Jassim Mohammed said at a Baghdad press conference.

"This programme will help Iraq to buy modern weapons and to ensure arrival of these weapons when the ministry asks for them," he added.

Iraq has started importing American-made M-16 and M-4 rifles, which are slowly replacing the ubiquitous Soviet-designed AK-47 Kalashnikov among the Iraqi forces struggling to bring order to the country.

Mohammed is also looking to beef up the country's air force and navy with the purchase of 29 Soviet-designed M-17 helicopters, six reconnaissance planes, 10 patrol boats from Italy and 26 from the United States.

The gradual switchover from the AK-47 to the M-16 began earlier this month, when a graduating class of Iraqi military recruits became the first of 1,600 rookie soldiers to start receiving the weapons.

The M-16 fires a 5.56mm round, standard among most modern armies and lighter than the 7.62mm used in the rugged Kalashnikov.

Iraq is awash with Kalashnikovs looted from ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's defunct armed forces, smuggled from around the region by militants and imported by the United States to arm new Iraqi security units.

Many go missing from official stocks, but the new generation of US-made weapons will be issued to individual soldiers, whose photographs and biometric data will be recorded next to their guns' serial numbers to deter fraud.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Email This Article

IRAQ WARS

War Czar Compromise - Part 3

Washington (UPI) May 21, 2007
The great debate that led to the appointment of Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as the Bush administration's coordinator, or "war czar," for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan is another example of the triumph of form over reality and spin over substance in American politics.

SUPERPOWERS Shanghai Group Will Not Become A Military Alliance Says Russian Official Political Geography Is A Changing World Tough Talks In Moscow Boosting US-Russia Ties	NUKEWARS Britain Orders Fourth New Nuclear Submarine Who Can Make ICBMs North Korea Leader Stages Military Reshuffle To Bolster Power US Says Kim Serious About Ending Nuke Program But Nothing Banked
MISSILE NEWS Latest Chinese Missile To Target US Carriers Lockheed Martin-Built Trident II D5 Successfully Launched In Atlantic Two-Missile US Navy Test Raytheon And Aerojet Test New Propulsion System For Air-Launched Missile Defense System North Korea Unveiled New Ballistic Missile	MISSILE DEFENSE S400 Missile System Ready To Defend Moscow BMD Collision Course In Search Of A Compromise For ABM Deployment Across Europe Japanese Police Raid Naval Centre Over Aegis Data Leak
AEROSPACE Australia Fears Jet Flight Guilt Could Hit Tourism Nondestructive Testing Keeps Bagram Aircraft Flying New FAA Oceanic Air Traffic System Designed By Lockheed Martin Fully Operational NASA Seeks New Research Proposals	UAV NEWS US Army MQ-8B Fire Scout Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Completes First Engine Run New Generation Of UAVs Could Borrow A Few Secrets From Bats Elbit Systems Introduces Silver Marlin Unmanned Surface Vehicle Northrop Grumman Demos Low-Cost Autonomous Control System For Recon Planes
IRAQ WARS Iraq Set To Spend Billions On New Weapons As US Breaks Up Anti-Chopper Cell War Czar Compromise - Part 3 The War Czar Compromise: Part 2 Bush Preparing For British U-Turn On Iraq	MILTECH Laser-Based Device Offers Alternative To Video Surveillance NGC's Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload Embarks On the Performance Phase of Its Flight Test Program Excalibur Team Tests Extended-Range Precision-Guided Artillery Projectiles Northrop Grumman's Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload Embarks On Performance Phase Of Flight Test Program

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement