Iraqi Army Develops the Heavy Mechanized and Armored Forces - The Long War Journal

7/27/2019 Iraqi Army Develops the Heavy Mechanized and Armored Forces - The Long War Journal

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Iraqi soldiers of the 2ndBattalion, 34th Brigade, 9th

Iraqi Army Division(Mechanized), drive their tank[BMP1] waving the Iraqi flagproudly across the Besmaya

firing range, Iraq, on Oct. 31,2008. (US Military photo bySpc. Chase Kincaid, Joint

Combat Camera Center Iraq)

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Iraqi Army develops the heavy mechanized andarmored forcesBy DJ ELLIOTT December 3, 20 08

An Am erican M1A1 Abrams Mai n Battl e Tank and a crew of Soldiers in the 2nd Brigade CombatTeam, 1st Armored Division, and Iraqi Ar my cre wmen of a T -72 tank per form checks in preparation for a li ve fire demonstration on Forward Oper ating Base Hammer, Oct. 31, 2008. (US Army photo by Pfc.

Evan Loyd, 2nd Brigade Com bat T eam, 1st Armored Divisi on Publi c Affairs)

The Iraqi Government has been ordering substantial numbers of weapons this year.These o rders, combined with known training plans , and existing force structure, provideinsight into the eventua l planned force structure of elements of the Iraq i Security Forces.The Air Force , Iraqi Army light infantry , and light armored forces already have beenaddresse d i n The Long War Jo urn al . Th e fo cu s o f t his article is on the a nnounced a rmspurchases and what they indicate for developments in the Iraqi Security Force's heavymechanized and armored forces.

The three stages o f upgrading the Iraqi Security Forces are o rganized into five-yearplans. The first stage started w ith the esta blishment of the first elected Iraqi Government

in 2006 and it lasts until 2011. Stage 1 is intende d to build a ba sic force. By the end of this stage, the Iraqi Army is apparently planned to be 20 or 21 divisions organized intofour corps.

The second stage is to build the forces up in capabilities including independent armored,mechanized, airmobile, naval, and a ir forces, thus converting the existing ba sic force intoa hea vier, more capa ble force. Stage 2 is set to las t from 2011 to 2015. The armspurchases for the beginning of Stage 2 have bee n and are being announced.

The third stage is to complete the training and improvements. Stage 3 should be thought

of as the insurance period for any slippage in training and developing the ISF, such asthat caused by a reduced budge t due to lowe r oil prices.

The announced purchase of M1A1M Abrams tanks matches thetank component of four armored battalions based on theorganiza tion of the Ira qi Army's 9th Armored Division. IraqiArmy armored batta lions are no rmally compose d of 35 ta nksand nine BMP1 mechanized infantry combat vehicles. BMP1sare the planned mechanized vehicle component for armoredbatta lions. The current and p lanned numbers o f BMP1s in theIraqi Army indicate a total of 60 armored b attalions a replanned.

The Iraqi Army organizes the 9th Armored Division into threearmored brigades a nd a wheeled mechanized reconnaissancebrigade. Each of the armored brigades ha s two armored andone mechanized battalion. Mechanized brigades are a mirror of the armored brigades, they have only one armored battalionfor two mechanized b attalions. A mechanize d division iscomposed of one a rmored brigade, two mechanized brigades,and a wheeled mechanized reconnaissance brigade. There arefour armored battalions in a mechanized division. While the distribution of M1s and oth ertypes of tanks being purchased are undetermined, the purchasing plan of four battalions

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Several Iraqi T-72 tanks from2nd Battalion, 34th Brigade,

9th Iraqi Army Division(Mechanized), standby to move

to the firing line during a livefire exercise at the Besmaya

Gunnery Range, Oct. 28, 2008.(US Military photo by Sgt.

Jacob H. Smith, Joint CombatCamera Center Iraq)

of M1s per year for five years equates to the tank components for the five planned IraqiArmy mechanized divisions.

To accelerate the formation of the M1 equippe d armored ba ttalions, Iraqi Army elementsare a lready being trained o n US M1s at the Besmaya Training Range. This training hascoincided with the 4 5th Brigade, 11th Division's training and fielding at Besmaya. The11th Division already has BMP1s in its inventory, as w ell as MTLB armored pers onnelcarriers ass igned to e ngineering elements. This indicates 11th Division is first to upgra deto M1 tanks.

Based o n already identified future tracked divisions, terrain and poten tial threat axis, theremaining four planned mechanized divisions are pro bably going to be in provincesbordering Iran s outh of the Kurdish Region. The Kurdish Region is too mountainous for

practical employment of heavy armor. This means tha t the plan ned mechanize d divisionsare:

11th Mechanize d Division in Baghda d. (Already us ing BMP1s and MTLBs.) 5th Mecha nized Division in Diyala. 14th Mechanize d Division in Basrah. 18th Mechanized Division in Maysan. A new mechanized d ivision to be formed in W ass it. (The 8th Commando Divisionis planned to split off that part of its area.)

There are nine he avy armored or mechanized divisionsplanned . The 9th Armored Division is already being e quippedwith T72 tanks and other tanks will probably be used for thethree remaining planned armored divisions, independentarmor/mechanized brigad es, and training estab lishment. Bothof the T55 equippe d armored batta lions currently in the 9thArmored d ivision w ill probab ly transfer to the tra iningestablishment with their replacement by NATO-donated T72s.Based on already identified future and existing tracked

divisions, terrain, and standard employment patterns, the fourarmored divisions will be:

9th Armored Division in Baghd ad. (Upgrading with moreT72s fro m NATO.) 3rd Armored Division in Ninaw a. (Already us ing M113s.) 7th Armored Division in Anbar. (Already using BMP1s.) 10th Armored Division in DhiQar/Muthanna.

Missing from the announced arms purchases are the tanks required for the threeprojected armored divisions, the corps' four independent armored brigades, and thearmored personnel carriers for seven of these armored/mechanized divisions. Previous

reporting indicated that the Iraqi Army was to get M60 ta nks. The current progra ms inEurope replacing M60s with Leopards indicate the missing tanks will be M60s fromEuropean countries. The US and European programs replacing their M113s indicates themissing a rmored personn el carriers will be M113s .

These armored and mechanized forces will provide Iraq with a capability to defend itself on the grou nd aga inst the most likely threats . Nine hea vy divisions out of the 20 IraqiArmy divisions may see m heavy, but that is less than a quarter of the to tal mobilizedIraqi Security Forces. Also, it is a comparable force to Iraq's n eighbor a nd most likelythreat, Iran. While Syria is allied w ith Iran, the majority of Syria's forces a nd their be starmor is not available for an Iraqi fight. Those units are dedicated to the Isra eli border.

This is the fourth in a se ries of articles on Iraqi Security Force componen ts. The first was"Iraq announces plan to expand the Air Force ." The second wa s " Iraq develops its lightcombat divisions ." The third was " Iraqi Army develops its light armored forces ."

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READER COMMENTS: "Iraqi Army develops the heavy mechanizedand armored forces"

Posted by Barlowmaker at December 3, 2008 9:11 AM ET:

Thanks for these updates D.J. The Iraqis are obviously eager students and they arelearning from history's bes t.

Posted by David M at D ecember 3, 2008 2:22 PM ET:

Get up-to-date informationand s tatistics on the US aircampaign targeting al Qa edaand the Taliban in Pak istan'snorthwest.

Updated July 29, 2013

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I N Y E M E N

Get up-to-date informationand s tatistics on the US aircampaign targeting al Qa edain the Arabian Peninsula inYemen.

Updated Aug. 10, 2013

O N T H E R A D I O

Bill Roggio is a regularguest on the JohnBatchelor Show fromMonday through Friday

to discuss the war. Che ckJohn's site for the time. Clickhere to listen live online atWABC .

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The BBC cited ThomasJoscelyn & BillRoggio's report onNasir al Wuhayshi'sappointment as al Qaeda'sgeneral manager.

The Washington Post cited

LWJ's data and reports ondrone strikes in Yemen.

The Jerusalem Post quotedThomas Joscelyn onpremature reports of alQaeda's demise.

The Washington Times citedLWJ's data on drone strikesin Yemen.

The New York Times againcited LWJ's data on dronestrikes in Yem en.

The New York Times againcited LWJ's data on dronestrikes in Yem en.

The New York Times citedLWJ's data on drone strikesin Yemen.

The Marine Corps Gazettereviewed Bill Ardolino's b ook,Fallujah Awake ns.

Novinite summarized DavidBarnett's article on theHezbollah operative involvedin the Burgas attack whoappears to be on Facebook.

Focus summarized DavidBarnett's article on theHezbollah operative involvedin the Burgas attack whoappears to be on Facebook.

The Washington Post citedLWJ's data on drone strikesin Pakistan.

The Sunday Times quoted BillRoggio on a female trainingcamp run by the Turkistan
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The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 1 2/03/2008News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.

Posted by Andrew R. at December 3, 2008 11:06 PM ET:

D.J.

Okay, I know that I always bug you on this, but is there any word on those SlovakianT-72's? Also, ISTR reading ab out so me T-72's that ha ve bee n rebuilt from various

bone yards and I was wondering if you had any information on that.

Posted by Lisan at December 4, 2008 12:04 AM ET:

Mr. Elliott,I like these update s, although I give myself a heada che trying to make eq uipmentcheat she ets, complete with all equivalent acronyms, common names, and p ictures.Some da y perhaps I w on't even need the pictures.

On a related topic, in one of the past OOB comment threads you applied/estimatedthe military readiness C levels to se veral Iraqi units. I we nt looking to see if thatinformation w as o n your OOB file, but didn't se e it. With all the equ ipment you'vewritten about for the armored, mechanized and light armored units, and with so manyIraqi units being the lea d forces, I was wond ering, being clueless myself, if you w ouldcomment about how you perceive the readiness levels, and how they've changed.

Thanks,Lisa

Posted by DJ Elliott at December 4, 2008 7:40 AM ET:

Andrew R:

Early next year is w hen the Slovakian T-72s are to arrive. Per MNSTC-I.

You probably saw the mention of T-72 rebuilds here. 20-40 have been refurbishedand a re in service with 2-34/9 and 3-36/9 ArmCav Battalions.

Lisan:

It was probably Anand comments. He tends to get overly fixated in guessing thenumbers.

The OOB has always reflected the ge neral C codes:

- When you look at the OOB, some bns are boldfaced and others are not. Boldface isC1/C2. The difference betwe en "in the lead" and "independent" a s defined by themilitary is not that gre at. Tends to be subjective at thes e levels.

- For the non-boldfaced, look to the right notes column. If it does n't say forming orplanned, then you are looking at C3. Partnered.

- Forming (training or just forming cadre) is C4/C5. Lot of overlap in the grade theresince differing components of a bn can be s till forming while othe rs are training.

- Planned is C6.

Those grades a re based on what type of unit they are now, not w hat they willeventually be. That means that there will be reductions in ratings when they convertthe bns,- to C4/training while they get the new gear,- then C3 while they get used to the new equipment after training is over.

But, the C3 stage tends to be short for experienced units that convert to simularroles. E.G. Infantry to Motorized to Mechanize d. The mounted compone nt does notrequire as much retraining.

I suspe ct the IA plans to form the armor bns from cadre, then sw ap the extra infantrybns o ut and use th em for forming the infantry components of the 18th Div, NumaniyaDiv, and CorpsTroops.

Posted by Lisan at December 4, 2008 10:29 AM ET:

Thanks, Mr. Elliott--I'll go ba ck to the O OB with your information close to ha nd. I gue ssI was n't too far off in grade s I made up for myself. Just lovely to se e the g rowth of theBold each month you pos t this...

Posted by Kudzu630 at D ecember 4, 2008 11:06 AM ET:

Great to see this progress. When I was at FOB Normandy in early December 2005 Isaw at least a dozen low-boy trailers that had M60A3s on it in full Iraqi regalia. I tooka double take and wo uld have taken a picture but I was a bit too busy and now Iregret it. We did an o ld MEK armor yard on FOB Normandy (also called Fallok) withpieces o f armor and a rtillery all over. I'll post a picture o n my blog (link above ) forthose interested.

s a m c ar y.

Arutz Sheva summarized BillRoggio's report on anAmerican fighting with alQaeda in Syria.

Ma'ariv summarized BillRoggio's reports on the new

jiha dis t gro up in Bu rma .

USA Today quoted Bill Roggioon the Obama

adm inistration's threat of a"zero option" in Afghanistan.

CNN quoted Bill Roggio on jiha dis ts in Pa kis tan an dLWJ's data on drone strikesin the country.

The New York Times usedLWJ's data to create a charton drone strikes in Pakistan.

The New York Post quotedThomas Joscelyn on therecidivism rate o f Guantanamo Bay alumni.

More items in the new s
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Iraq captured a lot of US and UK origin equipment from Iran during the Iran-Iraq Wa r.

Most was used to e quip MEK during the w ar and after.

That is why M113s, M577s, and M109s have been salvaged and used by IA 5th Div.Most of those captured pieces are in the local boneyards of 5th IA's AOR.

Posted by Marcello at December 5, 2008 11:18 AM ET:

"The current programs in Europe replacing M60s with Leopards indicate the missing

tanks w ill be M60s from European coun tries."I am beginning to wond er if that is actually going to ha ppen. Co uldn't they havedecided that a slower build up focused on higher quality tanks (Abrams and to a muchlesser extent T-72s) is a better use of money ?Short of a very expensive and e xtensive upgrade M60s are getting rather obsolete ina modern battlefield.


Marcello

Entirely possible.

The ques tion is time and money.Can the IA afford to wait the time and spend the money?

To fill out the missing ta nk compone nts at the current rate of purchase of M1s wo uld

take 13 yea rs at 2.16 billion USD per yea r.

28.2 Billion and final delivery in 2022. And that is just th e tanks and thier d irectsuppo rt. Not APCs, no t air, not Artl, etc...

The purchase o f the M60s fills out the force until such time as they can be re placed.Existing M60s cost 5% wha t a new M1 does.The M60-120S upgrade costs half what a new M1 costs.And the tanks are available much sooner, just as soon as the Leopards replace themin Europe...

If the GoI/MoD thinks they have 1 3 years be fore they nee d them and tha t they canafford the pricetag for the next 13 years, then buying all M1s makes sense.

I do not see 13 years of M1 buys in the budget and I do not think they want to wa it13 yea rs to finish b uilding the ir armor/mech forces...

Poste d by Marcello at De cember 5, 2008 12:43 PM ET:

I fully agree that if they wa nt a re latively tank hea vy force in short orde r they willhave to ge t M60s or similar.What I was wondering about is if they actually want to field large numbers of tanks atall in the next future.After all severa l wes tern armies have de emphasize d hea vy armor in favor of lightmechanized forces b acked by limited numbers o f high quality tanks (that see m thetrend at least). Couldn't they have decided to take the same route?It may not be the wise st course o f action for them but decisions like that are notunheard of.

Poste d by jack winters at D ecember 5, 2008 12:54 PM ET:

Hi DJ

You know w ith all of this info it's getting confusing for people e ven the one 's that

understa nd wha t your saying, with Iraqi mechanize d, armored, light , cavalry etcIt's really confusing so in simple terms can you tell us according to the plans that theyhave and in your judgment how many Tanks, APC's, Lav's do they need?Just give us a final number are we talking a 1000 tanks or more and s o forth it wouldhelp give people a bench mark or even a clear understanding of where the Iraqi's areheaded

thanks

Posted by DJ Elliott at December 5, 2008 9:14 PM ET:

The reason the west is moving toward more light forces is for expeditionary purposes.You can move light forces faster over long dista nces.

You can get away with that if you have air supremecy and the air support to offsetthe lack of heavy forces o n the ground .

The west includes three of the five countries that produce 85% of the world's combat


5/5

aircra t...

Iraq is not b uilding an exped itionary force. And their air will be comparable to itsneighbors, not enough to offset the lack of firepower on the ground.

As to numbers.13 years of 140 tanks each year seems eas y enough to figure.Approximately twice a s many APCs including the mech supp ort.20 Divs with 72 How itzers/MRLS, 72 120mm Mort, and 72 81mm Mort each.Plus the fire s upport for the 19+ MoI Divs on mobilization.Then there is the SAMs.Aircraft is 38 Sqs at 18-24 aircraft per s q.Four naval sqs of 1 PS and 5 PBs plus a support sq of 3 vsls and as sault boat sq o f 50boats.

That is scratching the s urface...

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Iraqi Army Develops the Heavy Mechanized and Armored Forces - The Long War Journal