Its astonishing… but really the MiG23ML was a better interceptor for Iraq than the Mirage F1 EQ… yes, the Mig23MS was crud (and only one squadron of those were bought and were soon relegated to OCU trainer role…

with the MiG23MF (of which only one squadron was bought, but remained in frontline use right up to 2003), the MiG23ML of which they had 3 squadrons fulfilled most of Iraq’s fighter-interceptor and escort fighter duties during the war with Iran… and even after the 1991 gulf war the Iraqis RETIRED the MiG29, MiG21 and kept the MiG23MF/ML right up till 2003… even upgrading them with french ECM equipment during the embargo years…

USSR/Russia : TU95 / SU17 (does the turboprop count as jet?)
USA : F102, B1B
UK: SeaHarrier, Hunter
France; Mirage III, Rafale
PRC: JH7, J8II
Brazil: SuperTucano, AMX
Schweeden: Viggen, Saab 105
India: Kiran, Tejas

😀

That is interesting as the Iranians say the only combat loss of an F-14 was to a Mig-21.

Frankly I take Iranian and Iraqi combat records of losses against each other with a HUUUUUUGGGGGEEEE dish of salt.

Iran 1980 – 77 F14 airframes
Iran 1988 – 58 F14 airframes

there was only ONE incident in which an F14 actually flew into Iraqi airspace… it was promptly shot down by a MiG23ML (in 1983 I think?)
All other losses of Iranian F14s happened over Iranian airspace. MiG21s hardly had the endurance to reach in any depth (more than 10-20km) inside Iran. most F14 losses were to MiG23ML and a few to Mirage F1s (I think only 2 or 3).

simple numbers tell us the “overall picture” (i.e iraqi and iranian respective lists of remaining airframes as of the end of the war – which are accurate enough)… details of incidents give the reasons / breakdowns for incidents. Certainly F14s did suffer from a lot of technical problems and quite a few of the 19 airframes they lost were to accidents… but it seems the few times the F14s actually took to the air they had a hard time either with weapons systems reliability as well as situational awareness (despite that AWG9)… nothing beats working GCI.

as long as trips and freebies for officers and government hobnobers continue the competition will go on.. and on… and on… 😀

An Iraqi Army Aviation Mi17 crash lands during flood relief operations in Southern Iraq (it hit a telco tower and crash landed). No casualties.

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Yeah, it’s funny alright. I had strong suspicions when I saw the two photos together, one with the US Army titles, and the other with them scratched out. As for the Bell 212, is that bogus too, or the real thing?

there are some private contractor helicopters flying out of Erbil (also baghdad, basra etc…), some of these are contracted to provide air services for the kurdish regional government. These include some AS350s for the kurdish police / medical service as well as some Hueys for VIP transport (in the past they used moldovan registered Mi8 Hips). The gyrocopters are also owned by the private company. The Kurds have some Ikarus C42s in a flying club similar to flying clubs everywhere else in Iraq (and the rest of the world).

those OH58s are not kurdish. They’re US Army and the photos are from 2003, just a kurdish passenger waved a flag out of the door (see US ARMY written on the tail boom! LOL)