Iraq's Military Equipment
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Iraq's T-55s and other tanks are the mainstay
of Baghdad's military capability |
There has been no military equipment procurement from recognised sources since August 1990.
As a consequence of the 1990-91 Gulf conflict and resulting
destruction of large amounts of equipment, the Iraqi armed forces are
in need of a complete range of modern equipment for all three
services. Once UN sanctions end, this area will become an extremely
attractive market for the majority of the world's defence
manufacturers.
Tank and Anti-tank Capability
A key element in the Iraqi defence manufacturing network is believed
to be a factory established before the war to assemble the
Soviet-designed T-72, the most sophisticated tank in Iraq's arsenal.
The first Iraqi version of the T-72, called the `Lion of Babylon',
came off the production line in 1989. Only a few of these indigenous
tanks are presently in service but sources say that the factory is now
providing the spare parts to keep Iraq's estimated 500 T-72s in
operation. Iraq made sure that a sizeable quantity of such
high-quality tanks survived the Gulf War, although hundreds were
probably knocked out. The surviving T-72s, and much of the elite
Republican Guard to which they were allocated, were moved well out of
harm's way before the allies mounted their big push into Kuwait in
February 1991.
The survival of the T-72s, and of other lesser quality MBTs in the
Iraqi arsenal, has helped to ensure that the ground forces are now the
mainstay of Baghdad's military capability. (Apart from the T-72s, the
other tanks in the inventory include T-62s and a smaller number of
T-54s and T-55s). Estimates of the total number of MBTs in the army's
arsenal vary, the latest US DoD estimate being in the region of 2,000.
Even though this is a huge decrease from the pre-`Desert Storm'
estimate of 5,800-7,000, it is still sufficient to give pause to any
neighbouring Third World power contemplating a hostile incursion into
Iraqi territory.
According to informed sources among Iraqi defectors, Iraqi elite
units still get the best equipment. For instance, the good quality
T-72s are assigned to the Republican Guard, while the tanks that are
less effective or need spare parts are mostly assigned to the regular
army. The Iraqi forces that seized Arbil at the end of August included
elements of the Republican Guard, equipped with T-72s. However, it
would appear that even the Republican Guard has to be content with
much smaller allocations of armour compared with pre-war levels. It
has been estimated that each armoured division of the Republican Guard
used to have around 500 MBTs and APCs and that this number has now
shrunk to about 120.
Many analysts believe that Iraqi ground forces have retained a very
strong capability in one particular area: anti-tank warfare. While the
army lost large numbers of anti-tank weapons during the war, it is
still believed to retain quantities of good equipment - including
MILAN man-portable guided missiles; HOT, AS-11s and AS-12s mounted on
PAH-1 and SA.342 helicopters; and AT-2s mounted on Mi-8 and Mi-24
helicopters. In addition, there is a range of weapons mounted on
armoured vehicles, including HOT, MILAN, AT-1, AT-3 and AT-4 guided
missiles. The army still has several thousand 85 mm and 100 mm
anti-tank guns and heavy recoilless rifles. It also retains a certain
capability in the area of tube artillery, although it lost a lot of
equipment during the war. It has an estimated 150 self-propelled
artillery weapons, ranging from 122 mm to 155 mm (in comparison with
an estimated 500 before the war) and probably about 1,800 towed
artillery weapons (105 mm to 155 mm) compared with up to 5,000 before
the war.
America's High- Tech Weaponry
