Aircraft

The Iraqi air force has used its Jordan Aerospace Industries Sama CH2000 light aircraft to demonstrate its ability to work in close co-ordination with Iraqi ground forces, following two months of instruction by US personnel.

The manoeuvres, conducted at the Camp Wessam facility in southern Iraq earlier this month, culminated in the CH2000 being used to spot simulated hostile activity, such as the placement of improvised explosive devices, before relaying the information to army personnel.

© Spc Darryl Montgomery/US Air Force

"The big step forward was that we had the Iraqi air force talking in Arabic to the Iraqi army in a scenario with the Americans as the opposing force," says Lt Col William Iuliano, commander of the US Air Force's 84th Expeditionary Air Support Operation Squadron. "They did a co-ordination brief from the aircraft down to the commander and back to the aircraft. Everything was executed flawlessly."

© Jordan Aeropsace Industries

Iraq ordered 16 CH2000s earlier this decade, with the aircraft having been equipped with an electro-optical/infrared payload for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance applications. The nation's air force also employs newly acquired Cessna 208 Caravans and Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350ERs for similar activities.