Iraq has plans to order at least 14 4.5-generation Dassault Rafale fighter jets from France. But why did it choose this particular aircraft, and what primary role does Baghdad envisage it serving?
The deal was first reported on in February by Defense News. Baghdad reportedly plans to pay $240 million for the jets in oil. Other than that, there aren’t many details.
It’s unclear if Iraq is seeking the latest F4 variant or the F3R. It’s also unclear if it is buying brand new jets or second-hand jets or, as Greece has done, a combination of both.
Three French made Rafale fighter jets fly with other Egyptian air force warplanes (unseen) above ... [+]
The more general question of why Iraq wants these jets is also unclear. After all, the country already has 34 F-16C/D Block 52s.
For now, and most likely for the foreseeable future, the Iraqi Air Force will most likely continue focusing on targeting Islamic State (ISIS) remnants across the country. For this, Iraq requires additional turboprop aircraft — to improve its limited intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) gathering capabilities — and cheap but efficient armed drones rather than expensive, sophisticated, high-performance 4.5-generation fighters.
Iraq may be procuring a modest fleet of Rafales to serve primarily as interceptors or simply to have another source for fighter jets other than the United States.
France will most likely prove willing to sell these jets. It sold Iraq a large fleet of Dassault Mirage F1s in the 1970s and 1980s. In 2011, long after all those Mirages were destroyed and the Saddam Hussein regime deposed, Paris offered to sell Baghdad 18 retrofitted Mirage F1s for $1 billion.
However, other countries might protest if the Rafales come armed with the Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missiles.
The primary reason Iraq would seek Rafales for use as interceptors rather than additional F-16s is because its F-16s only came armed with short-range AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and not the AIM-120 AMRAAM, which has a range comparable to the Meteor. This puts Iraqi F-16s in the same category as their Egyptian counterparts.
The United States, and especially Israel, might oppose Iraq getting Meteor-armed Rafales.
Israel is believed to have carried out a series of strikes against targets belonging to Iran-backed militias in Iraq throughout the summer of 2019. Furthermore, Israeli aircraft use Iraqi airspace when targeting Iran-backed militias on the eastern Syrian border.
Iraqi Rafales could potentially interfere with these operations and Israel’s freedom of action – especially if a more pro-Iran-oriented government comes to power in Baghdad.
Turkey might also oppose such a deal since the French jets could enable Baghdad to intercept its F-16s or drones that regularly target the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) group in Iraqi Kurdistan.
(Incidentally, in 2012, it was revealed that an Iraqi Mirage shot down a Turkish F-100F Super Sabre after it violated Iraqi airspace on Sept. 14, 1983.)
There is a precedent here. When France agreed to sell Egypt Rafales in the 2010s, the U.S. and Israel pressured it to downgrade the air-to-air missiles it would sell Cairo, insisting that Paris only offer Cairo the MICA short/medium-range missile. They could similarly pressure Paris over such a sale to Baghdad.
One of three French made Rafale fighter jets for Egypt air force is pictured at an air base in the ... [+]
If Iraq is seeking the Rafale to serve primarily, or even exclusively, as an interceptor, then that would be a departure from its historic decision to procure Mirage F1s.
In those days, the Iraqis were insistent from the get-go that they wanted the Mirage to serve as a multirole fighter performing a range of duties from dogfights against Iranian F-14A Tomcats to ground attack and anti-shipping missions.
The Rafale is a much more sophisticated multirole fighter than the Mirage. It has a range of weaponry and systems that will make it an effective platform for various missions over the modern battlefield for the foreseeable future.
It’s perhaps for this more general and straightforward reason alone that Baghdad wants to procure a couple to enhance its air force.
