Military of Iraq

The Iran-Iraq War ended with Iraq supporting the largest military of the Middle East, with more than 70 army divisions and over 700 aircraft within its air force. 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, however, Iraq still maintains a standing military of about 375,000 troops.

Iraq is said to have a large arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, as well as the beginnings of a nuclear weapons program (see weapons of mass destruction, Disarmament of Iraq).

Table of contents

1 Order of Battle of the Iraqi Army -- January 10 2003 2 Iraqi Equipment 3 Is the Regular Army Loyal? 4 Statistics 5 See also 6 External link

Order of Battle of the Iraqi Army -- January 10 2003

The Iraqi Army fields at least 11 infantry, 3 mechanized, and 3 armored divisions. In addition, the Iraqi Republican Guard fields 3 armored divisions, 2 mechanized divisions, and 1 motorized infantry division, while the Special Republican Guard fields 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

Iraqi Equipment

Number of equipment as of 2003 is presented inside parenthesis.

Tanks (Total: 2,200)

The Iraqi tank forces consist mainly of old Soviet gear. 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-55/54 (500)
• Type-69 (350)
• Type-59 (150)

AIFV/APCs (Total: 3,800)

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

Towed Artillery (Total: 1,900)

• M-56 105mm
• D-74 122mm
• D-30 122mm (100+)
• M-1938 122mm (400+)
• M-46 130mm
• Type-59-1 130mm
• M-1937 152mm
• M-1943 152mm
• G-5 155mm (100+)
• GHN-45 155mm (200+)
• M-114 155mm

Self-Propelled Artillery (Total: 150)

• 2S1 SP 122mm
• 2S3 SP 152mm
• M-109A1/A2 SP 155mm
• AUF-1 SP 155mm (85+)
• Majnoon SP 155mm
• Al Fao SP 210mm

Multiple Rocket Launchers (Total: 200)

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

Surface-to-Surface Missiles

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

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
• SA-3
• SA-7
• SA-6
• SA-9

Is the Regular Army Loyal?

Former General Bernard Trainor and Colonel Jack Jacobs, working now for MSNBC, argue that the central location of the Republican Guard Troops indicates that the Iraqi government does not trust its regular army. However, this is speculation.

Statistics

Military branches: Army, Republican Guard, Navy, Air Force, Air Defense Force, Border Guard 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: $NA

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: NA%

See also

• Iraq
• US plan to invade Iraq
• Iraqi production and use of weapons of mass destruction.

External link

• Information on Iraqi military