US Dispatches 4 First F-16 Warplanes to Iraq
KABUL: (Middle East Press) The United States has dispatched four first F-16 warplanes to Iraq on Monday, to be engaged in the battles against the ISIL Takfiri militants, the defense ministry said.
“Arrival of four F-16s at Balad Air Base,” read a flash on the ministry’s website, in an announcement also confirmed to AFP by the prime minister’s office.
Brett McGurk, the administration’s deputy special presidential envoy to the coalition against the ISIL, also confirmed the delivery by tweeting on Monday, “After years of preparation & training in the US, Iraqi pilots today landed the 1st squadron of Iraqi F16s in #Iraq.”
The delivery was most recently delayed over security concerns at Balad, which lies about 70 kilometers (45 miles) north of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, US State Department spokesman John Kirby has said the US would help the Iraqi government to prevent the jets from ending up in the hands of the terrorists.
“Of course we’re concerned about the security situation on the ground, and not just with respect to aircraft, but any other equipment that could be damaged … by ISIL,” he said during a press briefing.
“F-16 jets are a little bit different,” Kirby noted, adding ISIL “has no air force and has no capability or ability to fly advanced fighter aircraft.”
Kirby said, “If they are going to be flown in combat over the skies of Iraq, they will be flown by Iraqi pilots.”
