Iraqi 9th Fighter Squadron has now 21 F-16C/Ds in its fleet

On November 2nd, 2017, Iraqi Air Force's 9th Fighter Squadron took delivery of a new batch of three F-16Cs increasing to twenty one the total of Vipers in service on Iraqi territory. The first four F-16C/Ds arrived in Iraq on July 13th, 2015. Four days before, two single-seater (serial numbers 1607 and 1610), and two two-seaters (serial numbers 1601 and 1604) took off from Tucson and landed at Lajes in the Azores the same day. They landed at Balad AB on July 13th where they joined the new 9th Fighter Squadron. Two months later, they carried out their first combat missions against Islamic State militants. Twenty one aircraft is now enough to sustain intensive operations against ISIS.

Iraq got F-16s in summer 2015 and immediately started bombing ISIS

On Sept. 5, 2017,  Iraqi air force major Noor Faleh Al Khuzai died in the crash of his F-16 fighter during a training flight in Arizona. This is the second F-16IQ the Iraqi air force has lost in Arizona. On June 25, 2015, F-16C serial number 1609 crashed, killing its pilot Brig. Gen. Rafid Mohammad Hassan.

In January 2011, Iraq signed a contract worth $3 billion for 18 F-16C/D Block 52 fighters — 12 single-seat F-16Cs and six two-seat F-16Ds — for delivery between 2014 and 2015.

In March 2012, the first Iraqi F-16 pilot graduated from Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training in the United States. In October that year, Iraq ordered 18 more F-16s.

On May 2, 2014, the first Iraqi F-16IQ — F-16D serial number 1601 — made its maiden flight at Forth Worth, Texas, followed by official delivery to Iraq on June 5. The first two aircraft, 1601 and 1602, went to Tucson International Airport, home of the U.S. Air National Guard’s 162nd Wing, which trains Iraqi pilots.

Iraq Got F-16s in Summer 2015 and Immediately Started Bombing ISIS - The 9th Fighter Squadron wasted no time

Egypt Has Joined the Air War in Libya

On May 26, 2017, armed men traveling in pickup trucks gunned down 28 Coptic Christians and wounded 26 as the Christians were on their way to visit a monastery in Egypt’s Minya province. Islamic State has claimed its responsibility for the attack. That same evening, Egypt announced that its air force had carried out six air raids on ISIS camps near the Libyan city of Derna. Cairo suspects that the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated coalition of Islamist militias that formed in December 2014, supported the murders.

The strikes involved F-16C/D Block 52s covered by at least two Rafales. Weirdly, the Egyptian government posted a video supposed illustrating the operation, but the footage actually depicts a later strike on the city of Hun.

Egypt Has Joined the Air War in Libya - The skies are getting crowded

My publication in May 2017

Two publications in May 2017 : in DSI issue No.129, I talk about the engagement of Egyptian and Emirati Air Forces in Libya with a focus on the UAE deployment at al-Khadim airbase; I have also written a short piece about the latest batch of four F-16IQs delivered to Iraqi Air Force in Issue No.350 of Air Forces Monthly magazine

My publication in July

This month, I published three articles in August issue of Combat Aircraft Monthly. Foremost, two short items in World News section about the second Iraqi 'Vipers' batch that began test flights and one of the two Libyan Mirage F1ED returned to sevice and finally lost. The major item is a Combat Report on operation 'Breaking Terrorism', the battle for the recovery of Fallujah in the hands of Islamic State since January 2014.

First new ‘VIPER’ from second Iraqi batch

The two first F-16C/D Fighting Falcon of the second batch of ‘Viper’ ordered by Iraq, started tests flight at NAS Fort Worth. These two units are F-16D serial number 1619/13-0032 and F-16C serial number 1621/13-0016.

On 12 December 2011 the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of the Iraqi government’s request to purchase 18 F-16C/D Block 52 fighters (12 single-seat F-16Cs and six two-seat F-16Ds) and associated equipment, parts, weapons, training and logistical support at an estimated cost of USD2.3 billion. In October 2012, 18 more F-16C/Ds (12 F-16Cs and six F-16Ds) were ordered for delivery between 2017 and 2018, to equip a second squadron.

The first unit of the second group of 18 F-16s for the Iraqi Air Force , F-16D #1619 is seen launching on a test flight at NAS Fort Worth on 25th March, 2016. (Copyright : Keith Snyder)

Iraqi Air Force received a batch of two F-16IQs

Two new F-16IQs arrived today to Balad AB, this brings to six the number of aircraft in service in the 9th Fighter Squadron. The two aircrafts were previously affected to 152nd Fighter Squadron part of the Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Wing which operates the Air Force's international F-16 training academy. The two aircrafts, serial "1614" (RA-08) and serial "1612" (RA-06) previously seen at NAS Fort Worth on 16th and 20th September 2015, were spotted at Lajes/Azores on January 27th.

Copyright Tiago Silva (Source : http://theaircraftspotting.blogspot.fr/)

Video - Iraqi F-16IQ entered in action

On September 6th, the commander of the Iraqi air force, Lieutenant General Anwar Hama Amin told that Iraqi F-16IQ (IQ is for Iraqi F-16) began combat operations on September 2nd. They carried out reconnaissance mission and fifteen air strikes on enemy positions in five days in Salaheddin and Kirkuk provinces, north of Baghdad. Two of the targets were a manufacturing explosive laboratory and a house where a meeting of ISIS leaders was taking place in Hawija, 40 km north-east of Baiji. Three aircrafts were engaged in this mission. They intervened 19 minutes after the receipt of the information from intelligence with "smart weapons".

IAF F-16 with most air-to-air kills retired from service

With 6,5 air-to-air kills, F-16A No. 107 of the Israeli air force is the dogfight champion of all Fighting Falcon in the world. It has been retired from service late 2014 and will be exposed in the IAF Museum in Hatzerim air base in the Negev. Since 1995, it was used as a training aircraft. In addition to his aerial victories in 1982, he participated in the raid of 7 June 1981 on the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak with pilot Major General Amos Yadlin.