What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

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What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة hayder » الجمعة أكتوبر 22, 2010 11:42 pm

I recently had a discussion with a number of defence experts on the strategy that the new Iraqi military should pursue in countering Iran's superiority in manpower, artillery, tanks and rockets.

The "old" strategy of creating a huge Iraqi defensive line along the border with Iran, manned 24hrs and armed with tanks, rockets and artillery all along the border was brought up as a solution (and it sort of worked in the 1980s). But today that is completely impractical from an economic perspective today.

In my view Iraq should pursue a new strategy in dealing with Iran's long border.

Create a very large fleet of LAAR aircraft (like super tucano) and increase the number of KA350ISR aircraft to 24-36 to provide 24hr coverage of the entire border area.

This way Iraq doesn't need to provide a huge volume of artillery and troops all along the border. and can keep the bulk of the army in mobile positions to the rear to mop up and counter-infiltration tactics vs the iranians.

Don't forget that even the M1A1SA tanks are VERY vulnerable to the EFPs and daisy-chained anti-tank mines that Iran's surrogates in Iraq used so effectively. I don't think Iranians are actually that worried about Iraq's Abrams.

Iraq however has to be worried about Iranian rockets, artillery and infantry infiltrations. Tanks and heavy artillery would have to be acquired in enormous quantities to give effective coverage across a 1600km border.

There's no other way than to create an intelligent border with "slowing down" mechanisms (mines... mines and more mines), 24hr ISR coverage using aircraft, drones, tethered balloons etc... and effective roving anti-tank / anti-personel fire that is available in huge quantities and is supported by offensive Electronic Warfare aircraft SEAD/DEAD to protect them from Iranian SHORADs and fighters.

That, in my view is the only practical solution to Iraq's border defence needs.

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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة hayder » السبت أكتوبر 23, 2010 12:22 am

The key strategy should be the creation of:

"eyes" - Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft and tethered balloons with a mix of Synthetic Aperture radars and wide angle, high resolution thermal cameras. These provide constant 24hr coverage of Iraq's borders and 150km inside the neighbouring countries territories. Deeper coverage can be provided by a network of 3-4 satellites that can keep overwatch over Iraq's neighbours.

"Ears" - Electronic surveillance of neighbouring countries defence networks and a "cyberwarfare" unit to track developments in neighbouring militaries and stop any sabotage attempts on Iraq's electronic networks.

"teeth" - A large fleet of Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (LAAR) such as the Embraer EMB314 Super Tucano, which costs $9M to buy and $1M per year to operate (compared to an F16 costing $65M to buy and $7M per year to operate). Iraq can easily create a huge fleet of 250 of these LAAR that can put their teeth into any enemy incursions and concentrate their firepower at enemy troops attempting large scale incursions - as well as deal with attempted infiltrations and pincers much more rapidly than ground forces can.

These LAAR are vulnerable to both ground based air defences as well as enemy fighters. And therefore Iraq needs a fleet of Supression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD) and Destruction of Enemy Air Defences (DEAD) assets that can ensure that the LAAR aircraft are free to roam the skies at will. Similarly Iraq needs to give them top air cover using long range fighters with Long Range Air to Air Missiles (LRAAMs) to protect the LAARs from enemy fighters.

"Fist" - The Iraqi army is the ground fist of this defence strategy. It is based mainly in the border regions but out of range of enemy artillery and rockets. They have to be rapid mobility units and with good transport and road networks to ensure rapid deployment to attempted attack zones by the enemy. Each division covers a wider area than traditionally expected, this is due to the use of increased numbers of mines, obstacles and other measures to slow down any "rapid" advance by the enemy. The minefields and obstables are themselves overwatched by the long range SAR radars and thermal cameras.

"Kick" - The Armoured Regiments of Iraq's Heavy Brigade Combat Team (HBCT) are the armoured punch that ravishes and destroys the remnants of the infiltrators and pushes the counter-attack into enemy territory.


To achieve the above Iraqi equipment purchases must be made to ensure that Iraq has the LAAR aircraft, intelligence collection and protection for the LAAR aircraft to effectively complete 80% of Iraq's border protection using LAAR aircraft.

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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة Khalid » السبت أكتوبر 23, 2010 12:28 am

Well, I think that running recon flights 24/7 in large scale is too expensive as well...

In my opinion, the Iraqi Air Force should have modern and advanced jets that can react swiftly to intercept and interdict any kind of violation in the borders, whether the threat is coming from Iran and Turkey or anybody else.

This means a very good training and discipline to perform the duties effectively from aircraft crews and ground crews as well, and of course very reliable weaponry with medium and long ranges.

And of course Super Tucanos can't operate freely without decent cover and escort, they need also to use sophisticated equipment like GPS and laser targeting devices that is connected with the artillery with a digital data link to make the matter more easy, fast and precise of course.

My 2 cents :)
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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة hayder » السبت أكتوبر 23, 2010 12:39 am

Air superiority is the key point.

Iraq must be able to establish air superiority to allow the LAAR assets to function freely.

It won't achieve that using F16IQs... So Iraq will certainly need an alternative.

Ditto for an effective SEAD/DEAD platform.

That way, the Iraqi army (infantry) are a rear line backup, and not the first point of contact for the enemy attacks. The HBCTs on the other hand constitute the "third line" shock troops who flank the enemy and takes the ground battle into their rear.

Iraq won't need to fly 24hr Missions by the KA350ISRs (they just have to plug the gap in coverage from the tethered balloon based SAR radars and Thermal sensors.

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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة hayder » السبت أكتوبر 23, 2010 3:33 pm

Basra has to be protected by at least one division at all times and even perhaps 2 divisions even (one in Missan to block any pincers).

However the rest of Iraq, there is a 10-20km "buffer zone" and Iraq's small army will be spread way too thinly along those lines. This is not actually a new concept in Iraq. The old Iraqi army aviation bought 72 armed PC7 and PC9 aircraft in the 1980s and used them as Forward Air Controllers over the battle fronts (this was due to bad C2 between army and AF more than any other reason).

Thing is, with Iran, their main doctrine is based around small unit infantry attacks at multiple points, assisted with long range artillery and rockets (in lieu of CAS aircraft). Without the eyes, all these incursions can't be seen and classified in real time, and without the "rapid reaction" ability of a LAAR they won't be able to hit back immediately, whilst awaiting army units to deploy there.

The BTR4s for Iraq are coming without radios. They will be fitted in Iraq (the same US radios they put into the T72s / BMPs etc...)

Whilst the Iraqi air force is not buying any AT6 (or other LAAR), the key point here is that the Iraqi army aviation has been reconstituted this summer. This, I think is a key indicator that the army is taking CAS seriously enough not to rely on another service for support. If the King Airs are transfered to the army aviation, that would be indicative of a clear separation of responsibilities between AF and army aviation.

Watching the development of the army aviation will be key to seeing how Iraq plans to protect its long borders. The brazilian SIVAM system is an excellent example of using air assets to watch over and be able to respond to incursions in a rapid manner.

It consists of three main components:
-Ericsson Erieye AEW
-R99 ground surveillance aircraft (similar to KingAir 350ISR)
-Super tucano LAAR

The LAAR is the main teeth of the platform, if Iraqi army aviation invests in 250 Super Tucanos (or similar), they could place a 100+ aircraft in the air constantly during times of emergency/war, with each aircraft carrying 1.5 tonnes of precision ordnance / anti personel ordnance.

The CAPEX for such a purchase is about $2.5Bn
The annual OPEX is about $400M (over 20 years $8Bn)
Adding precision and dumb "ordnance" is an additional $5Bn = total cost of programme $15Bn over 20 years, less than $1Bn per annum.

If these assets are further integrated to cooperate effectively with ground forces, and Iraq invests in supplying data-linked terminals to the BTR4 command vehicles (to receive / feed data to the ISR aircraft, and direct LAARs to targets), Iraq can certainly counter and contain Iran's highly fluid small unit infantry infiltrators. The ISR aircraft can pinpoint and direct LAAR against enemy artillery and rocket launchers.

Of course none of the above works without Air Supremacy and SEAD/DEAD to be provided by the air force.

I personally don't see weather as such a problem. The main bad weather we have in Iraq are sandstorms, and even artillery / tanks are badly affected by those storms (not to mention thermal sensors, radars etc...). It would reduce the Iranian's ability to mount attacks to simple infantry infiltrations (and even those are rather uncomfortable and disorientating)

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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة Salam Al-Bohaya » السبت أكتوبر 23, 2010 8:40 pm

As i see there is very good military thinkers in the forum .. I hope i can have the time to post some replies ..

but you should check Montrose Toast .. it is the favourite ISF about website in the internet managed by DJ Elliot

cheers

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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة hayder » الأحد أكتوبر 24, 2010 2:12 am

Welcome to the forum Salam

We know DJ well, and certainly keep track of his updates on the new Iraqi military ;)

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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة hayder » الأحد أكتوبر 24, 2010 2:20 pm

The maginot line (and Iraq's equivalent during the 1980s) were extremely inefficient, inflexible and require massive investments in manpower and equipment - and yet are still vulnerable to an enemy that can pick and choose the time and location of its attack (and mass its forces accordingly).

Today Iraq simply cannot afford to reconstitute the type of army it had in the 1980s. The reasons include:
-Professional soldiers are not as cheap and plentiful as conscripts
-With no more USSR, Iraq no longer has a supply of cheap equipment to create mass forces - this includes artillery tubes, munitions, trucks etc...
-Iran's forces have developed their training and infantry tactics massively since the 1980s, and they've overcome their deficiency in artillery rockets that they suffered from in the 1980s.

Iraq's only option is to have :
-LAAR as the first line of defence - they can respond to the mix of small feints and diversionary attacks AS WELL AS large attacks in different locations - simultaneously.

-Iraq can rely on LAARs to nullify the enemy advantage in artillery. With a long endurance. The LAARs can hang around the battlefield and pick off the enemy artillery as they appear. - The enemy artillery has no target - since Iraq only keeps a lightly manned front line full of mines, ditches, EFPs etc...
-Extremely mobile and well armoured rapid response units all along the frontline (but far back enough to be out of Iranian artillery/rocket range) - to tackle the "main thrust" of any attack.
-Iraq's mechanised forces then can, at their leisure, flank and cut off the main attack force, whilst Iraq's infantry divisions meet the attacking force head on, and with sufficiently concentrated force to match the attacking force.

This way you eliminate the problem of a thin defensive line. Your fixed defences are simply lightly manned obstacles to delay (by a few minutes even) the enemy attack - which can then be met by the LAARs... Other LAARs eliminate the artillery and logistics support to the rear of the attacking forces), whilst your own army is mobilising and concentrating its troops to meet the main thrust of the attack - and your HBCTs are going around into enemy territory to cut off the invasion force.

It may seem far fetched that Iraq can pull off such a feat, but there's really no reason why they can't.

Tube artillery is not as cheap as it used to be... a M777 howitzer costs about $4.5M, and you'd need 2-3 batteries of such guns to match the flexibility of a couple of LAAR aircraft (2 out of those 3 batteries will not be firing since they'll be in the "wrong" location when an incursion happens).

- 18 tubes ($81M CAPEX) vs 2x LAARs ($18M CAPEX).

Even the "operational cost" of the 18 tube guns is not significantly less than a couple of LAARs (they'd need 300 men, 50 trucks to support them... a couple of LAARs need 4 pilots and 30 technicians).

Artillery still has a role to play of course, but I think Iraq attempting to base its defensive strategy around building up an artillery force all along the border with Iran is prohibitively expensive, vulnerable and still too thinly spread out to prevent an enemy breakthrough. 250-300 LAARs give you a dynamic and flexible defensive line that can meet small and large incursions all along the border and can actively eliminate the rear line artillery/rockets/logistics hubs to blunt the attacking forces.

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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة hayder » الخميس نوفمبر 11, 2010 12:02 am

briefly.

LAAR advantage over F16,

10x longer time on station than a jet (6 hours instead of 35min)
3x better situational awareness (visibility + EO optics + SAR)
20x lower operating cost ($600/hr vs $12k/hr)
similar survivability to a jet (armoured cockpit, RHAWS, MAWS, IRCM/ECM)

for the same price as a squadron of F16s (18 aircraft), you could have a fleet of 200 LAARs that give you 100x the number of hours on station!!! that's what your ground troops and border guards REALLY want!

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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة hayder » الخميس نوفمبر 11, 2010 12:06 am

Options for Iraq.

AT-6C
صورة

S314 Super Tucano
صورة

both have similar capability. 1500kg of advanced ordnance, EO sights, laser target markers, Synthetic aperture radars, MAWS/RHAWS and IRCM/ECM as well as the 6.5 hours of loiter capability and low operating costs.

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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة Salam Al-Bohaya » الأحد نوفمبر 14, 2010 11:23 am

A very good article that a thanks must be given for ... and it gave me very good info
hope that the IqAF have such thinkers that know about new techs


BTW : Muheeb is not a military Rank but a Rank the Ba'athist Regime made while it was in the time of Arif Brothers and any other Arabic country "Musheer" a militaristic name as Musheer means Yosheer Commands while Muheeb is like a genocidal maniac naming !! as he Yoheeb People scares them but you can also make it about respect

BUT musheer is a known and right naming ..
I hope we have a Musheer in our new Army ,, with the military knowledge such rank must be given

not saddam who escaped military service or Baker who killed very good military leaders because of there politic thinking

ALL REGARDS

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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة Salam Al-Bohaya » الأحد نوفمبر 14, 2010 12:10 pm

Man we should really tell the IqAF about this ..

do you think that they think the same way ?

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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة TangoIII » الأحد نوفمبر 14, 2010 2:57 pm

Starting I would like to comment on the subject, usually a function of any air force in the world is to protect the national airspace of the state and then followed by protecting the land and water from any potential enemy, then the title had to be how the Iraqi Air Force to protect Iraqi airspace? because the defending the borders, this is a function of the ground forces and cooperation with the Air Force.
And we come to the heart of the matter what is the potential threat that can force the Iraqi air of respond to it in the process of rebuilding the Iraqi Air Force?

The Air Force is the current is a collection of military cooperation planes, , no more no less and are therefore it can classify the Army Aviation and not real Air Force.
And can increase that was formerly the Army Aviation for the better armed and equipped and the ability of the current Air Force.

That issues such as counter-insurgency force, air should not be of concern to many of the planners, because in fact it's not there on the ground and having them in the land of a specific or sites which are not there are areas controlled by them or there rallies or gatherings specific to them can be attacked, but they are disguised with us This requires reconnaissance and spy planes and monitoring are minimal I think currently available. And if necessary air support, air support using armed helicopters of the army aviation of these duties.
As well as can be for air support role there will be one squadron, to 3 Squadrons for the counter-insurgency not more. Planes, multi-role as well as cheap and uncomplicated can be Tucano aircraft or other.
And of course with the grund system and the retaining of the liaison units and effective intelligence control.
And to build a real air force requires building the infrastructure needed for such a force, which include: -

-Early warning and detect control network.
-The developed network of commancations and and exchange date information.
- Maintenance and support system of a ground-based logistic.
-Effective country Air defense system.
-Combat aircrafts.
-Transport and logistical support aircraft.

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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة TangoIII » الأحد نوفمبر 14, 2010 4:22 pm

Based on this, all the items in the above must be available at the same time to integrate this system work properly and this requires a well thought out plans for the process of such construction in stages linked to each other.

Though the research has been conducted only in the combat aircraft that must be owned by Iraq to be going back a bit. We have passed the Iraqi air force in its history to a large extent a similar situation with the current situation after the Iraqi revolt in 1941. And defeat and re-occupation of Iraq by the British and the destruction and burning of the best aircrafts of the Royal Iraq Air Force.

And kept the Royal Iraqi air force with only a training aircrafts and the army cooperation for that period and all it gets a 30 aircrafts type Anson a light transport plane or multi-role in 1944 - were considered in the Royal Iraqi Air Force as light bombers - did not improve the situation, but when Iraq enter the Baghdad pact, where it managed to get on Sea Fury fighter in 1947. As can say that the phase that followed was the stage of building the Iraqi air force real.

Today we repeated the scene in front of local conditions and regional and international complex. Domestically the Kurds does not want to form an Iraqi air force has fighter planes and the fact that for fear they could be used against them. Also, the Kuwait and Israel, as well as Iran does not want both to return in the Iraqi air force to an advanced stage. And internationally, the And internationally, the U.S. player is influential in building the Iraqi armed forces, absolutely it's not setting out in how to rebuild the Iraqi Air Force and the Iraqi armed forces in general.

We need to any fighter jet aircraft realy to be multi-role also provide the simplest response capabilities and to protect the national airspace, as well as the capability to provide air support and a ground attack and I think the fighter F-16s are available on all these advantages which we do not need at the present time for the aircraft of complex air superiority or an expensive very sophisticated and we're in transition from east military doctrine, to western military doctrine, including means of the functions of the operational and tactical use of air power as well as maintenance and repairs methods and training.

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Re: What should Iraq's strategy be in defending the borders?

مشاركة بواسطة hayder » الأحد نوفمبر 14, 2010 7:41 pm

I think it has to be clear that the LAAR is not for the air force but for army aviation.

The Iraqi air force needs to have high performance interceptors with long range AAMs and AEW support as well as SEAD/DEAD assets and deep strike interdictors with GPS guided munitions and active guided munitions against surface vessels.

However the LAAR fulfills a complementary role in anti-insurgency, and anti-infantry border guard duty where low cost, long endurance are whats needed.

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