#Iraq's worst #defence investment. Rationale was: American weapons bring favourable US policy. It brought advanced technology (vsv Iraq's capacity), expensive maintenance, corruption (greatly documented) and unnecessary headaches. SU-25s did more damage/flying sorties over ISIS! https://twitter.com/lcmporter/status/1391878388969791489

And Iraq's F-16s are toothless. No air-to-air weapons. Older Turkish F-16s and Kuwaiti F-18s can shoot them down. A result of consideration for 'balance of power' in the region when selling them.

Same reasons Iraq has decided to buy Russian T-90 main battle tanks (MBTs). M1A1 Abrams came w/o reactive armour. Fighting ISIS, Iraqis had to use sandbags & makeshift metal nets for extra protection. Maintenance is very complex with jet like engines easily filled with sand.

To clarify: Iraqi F-16 B52 can be equipped with short range Sidewinder and mid range Sparrow air-to-air missiles. Both old and designed in 1960s. Sparrow is being phased out for the Amraam. The latter has beyond range capability where the rocket locks on target 35+ kms away.