WASHINGTON—The United States has ruled out delivering a number of F-16 fighter jets to Iraq due to security concerns, the US defense department said on Monday, and that the jets will instead be sent to Tucson, Arizona where Iraqi pilots are to continue their training.
“We had talked earlier in the summer about F-16s that the Iraqis had purchased,” Defense Department spokesman Col. Steven Warren said in a press conference. “The security situation still does not allow that, so the initial group of F-16s we are now going to deliver to Tucson, Arizona, where there are Iraqi pilots currently in the training pipeline.”
The Iraqi government under former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had signed a deal for 36 Lockheed Martin Corp planes as part of a $12 billion arms deal aimed at strengthening the Iraqi military’s defense capabilities.
“We expect the Iraqi pilots will begin flying their own aircraft for continuation training beginning in January,” Warren said. “All maintenance for the F-16s will be provided by [contracted] logistic support.”
The fighter jets were slated to arrive at Balad Air Base by the end of this year, but the collapse of the Iraqi army in June and the Islamic State control of Sunni areas in central Iraq has put the air base at great risk.
The Pentagon official said that three fighter jets would be delivered to Arizona in December followed by one jet each month until all the eight planes are delivered.
“Instead of training using U.S. training aircraft they [Iraqi pilots] will now use their own aircraft in Tucson,” said the defense department spokesman.
In the past few years 24 Iraqi pilots have trained on flying F-16 Falcons in the United States.
As Islamist militants faced down the Iraqi army in June, Iraqi officials accused Washington of “deliberately delaying” the delivery of the fighter jets while some official said that Baghdad was considering canceling the arms deal.
