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The Military of Iraq are the armed forces of Iraq, consisting of the Iraqi Army, the Iraqi Air Force, and the Iraqi Navy. Iraq is currently rebuilding its military after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

History

The Iran-Iraq War ended with Iraq supporting the worlds 4th biggest military of the Middle East, with more than 70 army divisions and over 700 aircraft within its air force^[1]thanks to funding from the surrounding Gulf states and billions in loans and funding given or secured by the US State Department to support Iraq's war with Iran^[2][3]. Losses during the invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent ejection of Iraqi forces from Kuwait by a United Nations coalition resulted in the reduction of Iraq's ground forces to 23 divisions and the air force to less than 300 aircraft. Military and economic sanctions prevent Iraq from rebuilding its military power. Iraq maintained a standing military of about 375,000 troops.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Iraq built and used arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, aided by the funding and expertise of the United States^[4]. These weapons were ordered destroyed by United Nations order. After a protracted and problematic weapons inspection process, the majority of weapons were considered to be destroyed and facilities sealed under UN weapons inspections. A new round of weapons inspections was performed in early 2003 by United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix, which searched Iraqi sites again, but found no new weapons. In March 2003, a US-led coalition invaded and occupied Iraq. After a year-long investigation by an American weapons inspections team, headed by David Kay, found that no large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction (though a network of UN-inspected and sealed laboratories did exist).

Saddam Hussain was executed on December 29, 2006 at 10:00pm ET.

Order of battle (pre-2003)

Before January 10, 2003, the Iraqi Army fielded at least 11 infantry, 3 mechanized, and 3 armored divisions. In addition, the Iraqi Republican Guard fielded 3 armored divisions, 2 mechanized divisions, and 1 motorized infantry division, while the Special Republican Guard fielded 6 brigades, including two tank brigades and an anti-aircraft brigade..

• Republican Guard (RG)-- 80-100,000 troops located along the Tigris, to the north and south of Baghdad
• Special Republican Guard (SRG) -- 15-20,000 troops located along the Tigris, just south of Baghdad
• Regular Army -- 375,000 troops located primarily in eastern Iraq
• Iraqi Special Forces -- Six brigades
• Fedayeen Saddam and other paramilitary forces

Iraq equipment

Number of equipment as of 2003 is presented inside parenthesis.

Tanks (Total: 2,200)

The Iraqi tank forces consist mainly of old Soviet design. The Type-69/59 are Chinese copies of the Soviet T-55/54 tanks. (see List of Soviet tanks)

• T-72 (700)
• T-62 (500)
• T-54/55 (500)
• Type-69 (350)
• Type-59 (150)

AIFV/APCs (Total: 3,800)

• AML-60/-90 (300+)
• FV-701 (90+)
• BMP-1/BMP-2 (900)
• Vamel launcher (900)
• BRDM-2 (1300+)
• EE-9 (600+)
• EE-3 (300+)
• FV-601 (100+)
• FV-701 (90+)
• PT-76 (100)
• MT-LB (1,500+)
• YW-531 (1,000+)

Towed Artillery (Total: 1,900)

• M-56 105 mm
• D-74 122 mm
• D-30 122 mm (100+)
• M-1938 122 mm (400+)
• M-46 (130)

Multiple Rocket Launchers (Total: 200)

• BM-21 MRL 122 mm
• ASTROS II MRL 127 mm (60+)
• BM-13/-16 MRL 132 mm
• ASTROS SS-30 MRL 180 mm
• Ababeel-50 MRL 262 mm (50+)
• ASTROS SS-60 300 mm

Surface-to-Surface Missiles

• Frog-7 (50)
• Scud-B (27?)
• Al Abbas
• Al Hussein
• Al Samoud

Fighters

The J-7 is a Chinese copy of the MiG-21.

• Dassault Mirage F1
• Su-20/Su-22
• Sukhoi Su-25
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29
• J-7

Surface-to-Air Missiles

• Crotale
• Roland
• SA-2 Guideline
• SA-3 Goa
• SA-7 Grail
• SA-6 Gainful
• SA-8 Gecko
• SA-9 Gaskin
• SA-13 Gopher

Statistics

Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Border Guard Force (Historical - Republican Guard, Air Defense Force, Fedayeen Saddam)

Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 5,674,990 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 3,176,826 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 266,736 (2000 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $3 Billion

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: NA%

Referemces