Iraqi armed forces until 2003

[Gonjeeshk]

Members can post here, anything to do with the Iraqi armed forces until the Iraq war in 2003. This includes all times before the Saddam Hussein era, as well.

[Gonjeeshk]

Iraqi armed forces in 2003.
Information guide: Iraq War: Iraq Forces - Special Reports from CNN.com

[Gonjeeshk]

Forces: Iraq/Army

Iraq's ground forces are only about a third the size of what they were before the 1991 Gulf War, and postwar sanctions have further eroded the combat readiness of equipment. But it still has an estimated 430,000 soldiers and another 400,000 personnel in paramilitary units and security services.

Special Republican Guard



Based: Baghdad
Personnel: 15,000
Units: Four infantry brigades, an armored unit and an air defense unit.
Weapons: Armored units operate T-72 battle tanks.
Duties: The elite SRG is the only significant military unit allowed inside Baghdad, and nearly all of its members are from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's al-Bu Nasir tribe. The SRG's 1st Brigade provides security for Saddam, and the 2nd Brigade protects presidential palaces and the northern approaches to Baghdad. The 3rd and 4th brigades defend palaces and the southern approaches to Baghdad, and are organized as full combat units capable of mounting counterattacks. The armored unit consists of two tank regiments.

Republican Guard



The Republican Guard is equipped with Iraq's most modern weapons and has an estimated 80,000 soldiers divided into two corps. The guard, however, is not allowed in Baghdad but is posted on its outskirts to defend the approaches of Iraq's capital. The guard is supervised by Qusay Hussein, Saddam Hussein's youngest son, and its chief of staff is Staff Gen. Ibraheem Abdul Sattar Muhammad al Tikriti.

Northern Corps
Based: Around northern Baghdad and Tikrit
Strength: 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers authorized per division
Units: Medina Armored Division, Adnan Mechanized Division, and Nebuchadnezzar Infantry Division.
Weapons: T-72 battle tanks, self-propelled artillery, BMP fighting vehicles, anti-tank missiles, and anti-tank and infantry-support guns.
Duties: The Northern Corps guards Baghdad and its northern approaches along with Tikrit, Saddam's birthplace.

Southern Corps
Based: Southern Baghdad
Strength: 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers authorized per division
Units: Al Nida Armored Division, Hammurabi Armored Division and Baghdad Infantry Division.
Weapons: T-72 battle tanks, self-propelled artillery, BMP fighting vehicles and anti-tank missiles.
Duties: The Republican Guard's Southern Corps guards Baghdad and its southern approaches.

CNN.com Specials

[Gonjeeshk]

Regular Iraqi Army



I Corps
Based: Around Kirkuk
Personnel: 10,000 authorized per division
Units: 5th Mechanized Division, 2nd Infantry Division, 8th Infantry Division and 38th Infantry Division.
Weapons: Armored units rely on T-54/-55/-62 battle tanks; mechanized battalions use a variety of armored personnel carriers. The military has up to 60 attack helicopters, including Mi-25 Hind, SA-316/-319 Alouette III and SA-342 Gazelle attack helicopters, though how many are operational is unknown.
Duties: Along with the Republican Guard, I Corps guards the northern portions of Iraq near the northern "no-fly" zone.

II Corps
Based: Northeast of Baghdad
Personnel: 10,000 authorized per division
Units: 3rd Armored Division, and 15th and 34th infantry divisions.
Weapons: Armored units rely on T-54/-55/-62 battle tanks; mechanized
battalions use a variety of armored personnel carriers. The military has up to 60 attack helicopters, including Mi-25 Hind, SA-316/-319 Alouette III and SA-342 Gazelle attack helicopters, though how many are operational is unknown.
Duties: II Corps guards the border with Iran northeast of Baghdad.

III Corps
Based: Southern Iraq
Personnel: 10,000 authorized per division
Units: 6th Armored Division, 51st Mechanized Division and 15th Infantry Division.
Weapons: Armored units rely on T-54/-55/-62 battle tanks; mechanized battalions use a variety of armored personnel carriers. The military has up to 60 attack helicopters, including Mi-25 Hind, SA-316/-319 Alouette III and SA-342 Gazelle attack helicopters, though how many are operational is unknown.
Duties: III Corps protects the route along the Euphrates River that leads to Kuwait through the southern city of Basra.

IV Corps
Based: Northeast of Baghdad
Personnel: 10,000 authorized per division
Units: 10th Armored Division, and 14th and 18th infantry divisions.
Weapons: Armored units rely on T-54/-55/-62 battle tanks; mechanized battalions use a variety of armored personnel carriers. The military has up to 60 attack helicopters, including Mi-25 Hind, SA-316/-319 Alouette III and SA-342 Gazelle attack helicopters, though how many are operational is unknown.
Duties: IV Corps guards the southern end of the border with Iran.


V Corps
Based: Around Mosul in northern Iraq.
Personnel: 10,000 authorized per division
Units: 1st Mechanized Division, and 4th, 7th and 16th infantry divisions.
Weapons: Armored units rely on T-54/-55/-62 battle tanks; mechanized battalions use a variety of armored personnel carriers. The military has up to 60 attack helicopters, including Mi-25 Hind, SA-316/-319 Alouette III and SA-342 Gazelle attack helicopters, though how many are operational is unknown.
Duties: V Corps guards the northern part of the country.

CNN.com Specials

[Gonjeeshk]

Special Units



Unit 999
Based: Salman army base southeast of Baghdad
Units: Six battalions of 300 men each. Each battalion specializes in a particular skill or focuses on relations with a neighboring country.
Duties: The 1st (Persian) battalion specializes in Iran; the 2nd (Saudi Arabia) Battalion handles Iraq's neighbor to the south; the 3rd (Palestine) Battalion deals with Israel; the 4th (Turkish) Battalion specializes in Turkey; the 5th (Marine) Battalion specializes in maritime operations such as mining waterways between Iran and Iraq. The "Opposition" Battalion is divided into a section focusing on dissident Kurds in the north and a section focusing on dissident Shiite Iraqis in the south.

Military Security Service
Based: Baghdad
Personnel: 5,000
Duties: This independent agency monitors Iraq's armed forces for signs of dissent. MSS personnel are assigned to all levels of every unit in the armed forces. It also has an independent, rapid-intervention military brigade.

People's Army
Iraq has 19 units organized by geographical region known as the People's Army, or Popular Army. The civilian volunteers receive only a few weeks of training before they are mobilized. The People's Army was not effective against Iran or in the Persian Gulf War, and is not expected to offer much resistance to a U.S.-led ground invasion.

SOURCES

Jane's Security Sentinel; Periscope

CNN.com Specials

[Gonjeeshk]

Forces: Iraq/Navy

Iraqi Navy



While Iraq only has 37 miles of coastline, protection of its ports is important due to the country's reliance on oil exports through the Persian Gulf. But the Persian Gulf War decimated the Iraqi navy, with most of its ships sunk or destroyed.

The Iraqi navy has bases at Basra and Az Zubayr and has roughly 2,000 personnel. A previous base at the Umm Qasr port is inside the demilitarized zone that separates Iraq and Kuwait under U.N. observation, and the port is used mainly for commercial shipping.

All that remains are mostly the Sawari class of inshore patrol boats, according to Jane's Sentinel, a risk-assessment publication. Two Assad class corvettes are moored at La Spezia, Italy, but they are unlikely to be returned due to the U.N. arms embargo, the publication says.

U.S. Central Command estimates that Iraq's navy has 21 ships (including the presidential yacht) but says most of those are not operational. Functional watercraft likely include a fast-attack craft missile, large and small patrol crafts, minesweepers and supply and transport ships.



SOURCES

Jane's Sentinel, Periscope

CNN.com Specials

[Gonjeeshk]

Forces: Iraq/Air Force

The Persian Gulf War and subsequent U.N. sanctions crippled Iraq's air force, once one of the region's largest with an estimated 750 combat aircraft. Immediately after the war, President Saddam Hussein separated the air defense command from the air force and placed a priority on strengthening the country's ground-based air defenses.

Iraq Air Force
(All figures are estimates)


Status: The U.N. embargo on military equipment has limited the Iraqi air force's ability to keep its planes operational, although some spare parts may have been smuggled in from Serbia and North Korea. The combat aircraft are mostly French- and Russian-made fighters and fighter-bombers. Iraq had about 20 Russian- and Chinese-made long-range bombers, but only a few that survived the Persian Gulf War are thought to be operational.
Personnel: 30,000
Bases: Various locations; combat aircraft concentrated around Baghdad
Total planes: 300-350
Percentage operational: 50-60 percent
Operational combat aircraft: 90
Pilot quality: Uneven
History: Coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War shot down 36 combat aircraft and destroyed 68 more on the ground, while losing none in aerial engagements. As many as 137 planes fled to Iran, which refused to return them. Several airfields also were severely damaged by coalition planes during Operation Desert Fox in 1998.
Tactics: Iraqi jets usually avoid direct confrontation with coalition aircraft patrolling the no-fly zones, but they often try to lure the planes to within range of a missile or artillery battery.
Possible secret weapon: According to U.N. weapons inspectors, Iraq may have converted several Czech-made L-29 training planes to unmanned drones to carry chemical or biological weapons; such planes would have the range to reach Israel.

CNN.com Specials

[Gonjeeshk]

Iraqi Air Defense Command
(All figures are estimates)


Status: Heavily damaged in the Gulf War, the system was redeveloped with an agility to confound and shoot down coalition aircraft patrolling the no-fly zones. With Saddam's personal attention, and aided with technology from countries such as Belarus, Russia, Serbia and North Korea, it has become the first line of defense against air attack, according to intelligence reports. The system is so mobile that coalition planes are forced to hit fixed positions, which are quickly repaired; few missile launchers have been destroyed.
History: Air defense units downed 37 coalition aircraft during the Persian Gulf War, including 28 U.S. planes.
Personnel: 17,000
Command center: Underground bunker complex near al-Muthanna Airfield, in the Mansour area of Baghdad.
Weapons systems: Surface-to-air missile (SAM) and anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) batteries, both mobile and fixed, equipped with tracking radar.
Medium-range SAMs: 300
Short-range SAMs: 300-400
AAA guns: 4,000
Communications: Sophisticated fiber-optic network linking missile batteries to command center.
Deployment: Four sector operations centers, or SOCs, controlled by the command center. An independent SOC is responsible for guarding Saddam's palaces in Baghdad and units of the elite Republican Guard and super-elite Special Republican Guard.


1st SOC


HQ: Al-Taji Military Camp, northern Baghdad.
Defense area: Central Iraq
Firepower: 19-20 medium-range SAM batteries; short-range mobile SAMs; AAA batteries


2nd SOC


HQ: Near al-Waleed Air Base close to the Jordanian border
Defense area: Western Iraq
Firepower: 8-10 medium-range SAM batteries; short-range mobile SAMs; AAA batteries


3rd SOC


HQ: Close to Imam Ali Air Base, near Nasiriya and Basra
Defense area: Southern Iraq
Firepower: 10 medium range SAM batteries; AAA batteries spread around Basra, Nasiriya and the Iranian border near Amarah


4th SOC


HQ: Al-Hurriya Air Base, near Kirkuk
Defense area: Northern Iraq
Firepower: 10-12 medium-range SAM batteries; AAA batteries




SOURCES

Jane's Sentinel, Periscope

CNN.com Specials

[Gonjeeshk]

Iraqi Air Force (IqAF)

A brief history
An Iraqi air arm was established under British guardianship in 1931. Up until the 2nd Gulf War (the first being the Iran-Iraq War), the Iraqi Air Force (IqAF) was supplied with several different British, French and Russian aircraft types. In the early years the IQAF was mainly supplied by the British with deliveries that included batches of DeHavilland Moths, Hawker Audax and Fury trainers, Bristol Freighter 31s, Westland Wessex 52s, DeHavilland Vampires, DeHavilland Venoms, DeHavilland Chipmunks, Hunting Piston Provosts and Hawker Hunters. During the late 60s and early 70s Iraq received considerable amounts of hardware from the Soviets, but from the early 70s on Iraq also turned to Western countries for supplies. The French supplied Iraq with Mirage F1s that replaced the ageing Hawker Hunter fleet. Despite the deliveries from the west, the Iraqi Air Force relied heavily on the aircraft supplied by the soviets. The Air Defense backbone consists of Mirage F1EQs, MiG-23s MiG-29s and MiG-25s from which some also served as Reconnaissance aircraft. The attack aircraft fleet included Mirage F1EQs, Su-20s, Su-22s, Su-24s and Su-25s. Besides these, a large fleet of MiG-21s was put to use in different roles. The transport and aerial tanker fleet mainly consited of An-24s, An-26s and Il-76s.

During the 2nd Persian Gulf War a lot of Iraqi Air Force (IQAF) pilot fled to their neighboring country Iran, supplying the IRIAF with a large number of aircraft including Mirage F1s, Su-24MK Fencer-Ds, MiG-29 Fulcrums, Su-20s, Su-22M Fitters, Su-25 Frogfoots, MiG-23s and a number of Il-76s.

The Iraqi Air Force proved to be totally non-existant during the latest US-led invasion of Iraq that started in March 2003. A few flying activities of Iraqi helicopters were seen but no fighter aircraft took off to fight the Americans. During the occupation phase, large quantaties of ex Iraqi Air Force fighter aircraft (mainly MiG-23s, MiG-25s and Su-25s) were found in a very poor state at several air bases throughout the country. Most were digged in and non-serviceable. During the invasion US and Australian forces found large numbers of aircraft that were litterly dug into the ground. Planes or the remains of them were found at Tallil (MiG-23s), al-Taqaddum (MiG-25s, Tu-22s), Al Sahra (AS202s) and many other airbases.

http://www.scramble.nl/iq.htm

[Gonjeeshk]

Forces: Iraq/Security Services

Iraq's state security system consists of several agencies charged with a variety of security functions. The Iraqi National Security Council, headed up by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's youngest son, Qusay Hussein, coordinates the agencies. Little is known about these paramilitary and police groups, but their importance to the regime is undisputed.

The security forces are directed from the Joint Operations Room in the Baghdad Presidential Palace, where Iraqi troop movements are also coordinated.


Iraq Special Security



Created in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war, it is considered super-secret and is directed by Qusay. It is considered the top intelligence agency in Iraq, and its primary duties are protecting Saddam, and managing the Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard. Because of the sensitive nature of the work, recruits for the agency are chosen carefully and usually hail from Saddam's hometown of Tikrit or its environs.

The agency would also coordinate any effort to conceal weapons of mass destruction and was instrumental in frustrating the efforts of the first U.N. weapons inspection team. It also supervises internal security operations against Iraq's Kurdish and Shiite minorities and helped suppress the 1991 Shiite uprising in southern Iraq after the Persian Gulf War.

The agency is based in Baghdad but has offices in Basra and Mosul.


Iraqi Intelligence Service



This branch, also known as the Mukhabarat, is tasked with monitoring the ruling Baath Party and other groups, including the Shiite and Kurdish minorities. It also monitors overseas embassies and foreign nationals visiting Iraq. Another of its key missions is to conduct sabotage, subversion and terror operations against Iran and Syria. This agency tried to assassinate former President George Bush during his visit to Kuwait in 1993. The director is Lt. Gen. Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti.


General Security Service


This is the a political security police force, charged with monitoring the day-to-day life of Iraqis. Its key missions are to react to political behavior the government deems criminal and to maintain internal security. Formerly a part of the Interior Ministry, it became independent in the 1970s. It is headed by Rafi Abid al-Talfah, a cousin of Saddam's.


Fedayeen Saddam


This quasi-official force is controlled by Saddam's eldest son, Uday. Its name means "Saddam's men of sacrifice." Its 10,000-40,000 soldiers recruited from areas that are loyal to Saddam are supposedly independent of the other intelligence agencies. The group's missions include running counterinsurgency operations, and helping police fight crime and maintain order.


Military Intelligence


This department was created in 1932, soon after Iraq's independence. Its missions are to ensure the loyalty of Iraq's military and to gather intelligence of military value. It maintains a network of informants and is involved in operations outside the country, including assassinations of regime opponents. The director is Maj. Gen. Zuhair al-Naqib.



SOURCES

Jane's Sentinel, CNS/Monterey Institute of International Studies, GlobalSecurity.org

CNN.com Specials