Military of Iraq

The Iran-Iraq War ended with Iraq supporting the largest military of the Middle East, with more than 70 army divisions and over 700 aircraft within its air force. Losses during the invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent ejection of Iraqi forces from Kuwait by a United Nations coalition resulted in the reduction of Iraq's ground forces to 23 divisions and the air force to less than 300 aircraft. Military and economic sanctions prevent Iraq from rebuilding its military power, however, Iraq still maintains a standing military of between 350,000 and 450,000 troops.

Iraq is said to have a large arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, as well as the beginnings of a nuclear weapons program (see weapons of mass destruction, Disarmament of Iraq).

Order of Battle of the Iraqi Army -- January 10 2003

Iraq fields at least 13 infantry, 5 mechanized, and 5 armored divisions. In addition, there are 5 brigades composing the Special Republican Guard.

• Republican Guard (RG)-- 50,000 troops located along the Tigris, to the north and south of Baghdad
• Special Republican Guard (SRG) -- 15,000 troops located along the Tigris, just south of Baghdad
• Regular Army -- 300,000 troops located primarily in eastern Iraq
• Iraqi Special Forces -- Two brigades

Iraqi Equipment

Number of equipment as of 2003 is presented inside parenthesis.

Tanks

The Iraqi tank forces consist mainly of old Soviet gear. The Type-69/59 are Chinese copies of the Soviet T-55/54 tanks. (see List of Soviet tanks)

• T-72 (700)
• T-62 (500)
• T-55/54 (500)
• Type-69[?] (350)
• Type-59[?] (150)

Surface-to-Surface Missiles

• Frog-7 (50)
• Scud-B (27?)
• Al Abbas[?]
• Al Hussein[?]

Fighters

The J-7 is a Chinese copy of the MiG-21.

• Dassault Mirage F1[?]
• Su-20/Su-22[?]
• Sukhoi Su-25[?]
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29
• J-7[?]

Surface-to-Air Missiles

• Crotale
• Roland
• SA-2
• SA-3
• SA-7
• SA-6
• SA-9

Is the Regular Army Loyal?

Former General Bernard Trainor[?] and Colonel Jack Jacobs[?], working now for MSNBC, argue that the central location of the Republican Guard Troops indicates that the Iraqi government[?] does not trust its regular army. However, this is speculation.

See also Iraqi production and use of weapons of mass destruction.

Military branches: Army, Republican Guard, Navy, Air Force, Air Defense Force, Border Guard Force, Fedayeen Saddam

Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 5,674,990 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 3,176,826 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 266,736 (2000 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $NA

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: NA%

See also : Iraq, US plan to invade Iraq

http://www.csis.org/features/iraq.htm - Information on Iraqi military