L’IRAK EN ROUTE VERS UN DOUBLE CONTRAT RAFALE ET H225M.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
IRAQ ON ITS WAY TO A DOUBLE RAFALE AND H225M CONTRACT.
In this case, the Iraqis are playing at being naughty copiers with the Emiratis but not on the same scale. For several weeks Baghdad and Paris have been negotiating the export of
fourteen Dassault Aviation Rafale F4 omni-purpose fighter jets in order to reinforce the capabilities of the Iraqi air force. It is now known that the latter wishes to acquire a sort of package since ten to
twelve Airbus Helicopters H225M twin-engine helicopters should be added to it. It is therefore a form of return to its roots for this country, which was a loyal customer of France during the Baathist era.
The Iraqi will to acquire the French Rafale F4 fighter is becoming more and more apparent. The option of a contract partly (or even entirely) paid in kind via the riches of the Iraqi subsoil is now official. To put it simply, Baghdad is offering ultra-modern fighter planes in exchange for oil, which, in view of the crisis with Russia, could definitively tip the balance in favour of this formerly frequent and now increasingly unusual method of payment. Paris could thus find itself sheltered from the sanctions imposed by dictator Vladimir Putin on the Allies in terms of energy. And for Dassault Aviation to see its products flying again under the Iraqi flag would be a nice way to thumb its nose at history. Many pseudo experts had bet on a complete loss of French influence after the collapse of Iraqi Baathism.
The fourteen future Rafale F4s will show them how wrong they were at the time, while confirming that the French omni-fighter remains a safe bet in 2022. Iraq is expected to be the first contract of Macron's second five-year term.
More surprisingly, Baghdad is now looking to acquire between ten and twelve Airbus Helicopters H225M. These high-end twin-engine helicopters would allow the Iraqis to return to the forefront in terms of assault transport but also search and rescue in combat, the two specialties of this European machine. Above all, they would allow the Iraqi air force to retire the old Bell UH-1H Iroquois single-engine helicopters acquired second-hand from the US Army in 2006 and now on their last legs. The method of payment for these future helicopters is not known but the solution envisaged for the Rafale seems particularly well suited to the H225M.
We have also learned that Baghdad is negotiating the sale of
French-made CAESAr artillery pieces, but this is outside our field of competence.
As you can see, 2022 will undoubtedly be a year rich in arms contracts between Baghdad and Paris, showing that the Franco-Iraqi military-economic alliance remains strong. Airbus Helicopters and Dassault Aviation remain champions of the French economy in export markets.