Iraq to buy advanced air defence system from South Korea

The Iraqi Army Command revealed details of a deal to purchase an air defence system from South Korea, stressing its importance to: “Support national sovereignty and protect Iraq’s airspace from any aggression.”

Last Wednesday, South Korean media reported that Iraq is the latest country in the Middle East to request to purchase the system and that Iraqi Defence Minister Thabet Al-Abbasi intends to acquire the system for Iraq “as soon as possible”, noting: “Eight batteries will be supplied to Iraq in the first phase.”

The deal is valued at $2.6 billion, with Iraq set to pay in instalments.

Commander of the Iraqi Air Defence Major General Muhannad Ghaleb Al-Asadi confirmed that the medium-range, surface-to-air missile system (M-SAM) is considered very advanced, remarking that Iraq has reached: “A productive agreement with the Korean company LIG and the government of the Republic of South Korea to purchase a number of them, to protect Iraqi airspace.”

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Al-Asadi added in a statement reported by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) on Thursday night: “These batteries are scheduled to arrive in Iraq successively over the coming years. The financing of these systems will be in batches, as they will provide the Air Defence Command with high capabilities due to their importance in supporting national sovereignty and protecting the airspace from any aggression.”

“There are high-level understandings between the Ministry of Defence and its South Korean counterpart in this direction,” he continued, explaining: “The first missile battery will arrive next year to begin training Iraqi combat and technical cadres as engineers and technicians on it in the fourth or sixth month of next year in the Republic of South Korea at the manufacturing company.”

“The specialised cadre for these batteries will be Iraqi, meaning that the use of the filling and the operational use of the batteries and the engineering cadre are Iraqi technicians,” adding: “Their training period lasts from 4-8 months depending on each speciality.”

In mid-March, the Iraqi government announced the dispatch of technical and military committees to several countries to purchase air defence systems, as Iraqi parties within the ruling Coordination Framework have accused the US of preventing Iraq from possessing any advanced air defence system in order to remain “in control of its airspace”.

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