|
WASHINGTON D.C. (January 15, 2008) - Iraq's new air force passed
its infancy in 2007 and will continue to build and grow over the
next few years, a U.S. unit commander in Iraq said yesterday.
Air Force Lt. Col. Cy Bartlett, commander of 770th Air
Expeditionary Squadron, is finishing a 12-month deployment at Taji
Air Base, Iraq, and said he witnessed the Iraqi air force "getting
off the ground" over the past year.
"The Iraqi air force is coming on strong. They have limited
resources right now, but they're building and they're growing, and
this is going to be the case over the course of the next couple of
years," he told online journalists and "bloggers" in a conference
call.
Bartlett's squadron, which trains and advises Iraqi helicopter
operations, is part of the Coalition Air Forces Transition Team
that is rebuilding Iraq's air force. When the squadron started its
mission a year ago, Iraqi helicopter pilots were involved in very
few operations -- "just a couple of training missions a week,"
Bartlett said. However, by the end of 2007, the squadron had
amassed "almost 3,000 flying miles and over 500 combat missions"
with Iraqi pilots, he said.
The increase, he said, is due largely to training efforts by the
coalition and Iraqi pilots.
"The Iraqi air force is focused on building (a) system of
capabilities to fight counterinsurgency. A key piece to that is
being able to train their ... pilots and their support personnel
and to be able to have the capability to make that training
self-sustaining," Bartlett explained.
The 770th Air Expeditionary Squadron initiated a course in which
beginning pilots learn basic skills in Bell 206 helicopters, then
are transitioned into flying Bell UH-1 and MI-17 helicopters and
participating in combat missions with coalition forces, Bartlett
said. Another unit in the coalition transition team offers full
undergraduate pilot training to the Iraqis, he said.
"We have the first Iraqi trained pilots, modern-era, to come
through our UH-1 course, to graduate there, and to go out and fly
combat missions over Baghdad," he said. "We've also reached the
point this year where the Iraqis have been able to fly combat
missions by themselves."
The increased numbers of Iraqi aircraft in flight have had a
positive effect on the attitudes of the country's people, Bartlett
said.
"People have come to recognize the sound of the Iraqi
helicopters, and the mothers are actually bringing their children
outside to see the helicopters. Kids are looking up from the soccer
fields, and there's a lot of waving going on," he said. "There is a
lot of pride in the fact that the Iraqi air force is flying. It is
a visible symbol of the government of Iraq, and this is very
valuable in the counterinsurgency campaign."
To provide for long-term sustainment, the coalition is
recruiting qualified individuals from the old regime to gradually
take over training of the "new generation" of Iraqi air force
members, Bartlett said.
"Over the course of the next few years, some of these
individuals from the old regime will be very valuable to help bring
that experience in," he said.
|
