Iraq takes control of own airspace

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Iraq now has full air traffic control responsibility for the country’s airspace for the first time since 2003.

The US Air Force made the announcement on Wednesday. The Air Force said it transferred management of the Baghdad and Joint Base Balad Airspace sector to the Iraq Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) on October 1.

With this historic step, Iraq’s air traffic controllers now direct the movement of all aircraft within the busiest and most complex airspace in Iraq, officials said.
“This transfer was the culmination of a multi-year effort by the Air Force, U.S. Embassy-Baghdad and the ICAA to help Iraq develop a self-sufficient, national air traffic control system,” said Major Adam Fiedler, an airspace planner with the U.S. Forces-Iraq Air Component Coordination Element-Iraq.

This project is one of many U.S. and Iraq initiatives that support Iraq’s economic development and sovereignty under the Strategic Framework Agreement.

From the Baghdad Area Control Centre, the ICAA now controls the airspace directly over Baghdad and provides approach and departure services for aircraft arriving and departing from Baghdad International Airport.

In August 2007, the airspace transfer process started with the ICAA taking control of the airspace above 29,000 feet over Iraq, Fiedler said. Surveillance and control over Iraqi airspace officially transferred to Iraqi authority as part of the security agreement January 1, 2009.

During the transition, the Iraqi government requested additional help from the U.S. due to gaps in capacity. To overcome this, the ACCE-Iraq and U.S. Embassy Transportation Attaché office officials partnered with the ICAA to incrementally transfer airspace as their capability and capacity increased.
“Essentially, this last airspace transfer culminates more than four years’ worth of effort and has returned true airspace sovereignty to Iraq,” Fiedler said. “It signifies that Iraq reached a point where it can stand on its own and no longer require U.S. support and assistance. They own, operate and control their own national airspace system.”

Fiedler said this Herculean effort would have been challenging enough in a permissive environment, but the added complexities of integrating during ongoing tactical air operations in support of security efforts made this accomplishment all the more significant and impressive for the ICAA.

Iraq taking responsibility for its own airspace is a big step for the country, but Iraq’s defence chief has said his military will not be fully ready to defend Iraq from external threats until 2020 to 2024, according to a U.S. inspector’s report released on October 30.

Lieutenant General Babakir Zebari has repeatedly warned that Iraq’s security forces, rebuilt after the 2003 invasion that ousted strongman Saddam Hussein, would not be ready for years.

President Barack Obama announced on October 21 that American troops would fully withdraw from Iraq by year-end, as scheduled under a 2008 security pact between the two countries.

Both Iraqi and U.S. military leaders have said the army and police are capable of containing internal threats from Sunni insurgents and Shi’ite militias that launch scores of attacks monthly, but that they lag in external defence.
“General Zebari suggested that the MOD (Ministry of Defense) will be unable to execute the full spectrum of external-defense missions until sometime between 2020 and 2024, citing … funding shortfalls as the main reason for the delay,” said the report from the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR).

Zebari said the air force would not be able to defend Iraqi airspace until 2020 and is not capable of supporting ground combat operations, citing a long-delayed deal to buy F-16 warplanes from the United States, the SIGIR report said.
“An army without an air force is exposed,” the report quoted Zebari as saying.

Iraq delayed its purchase of F-16s earlier this year to divert money to social programs.

Officials said in late September that Iraq had signed a deal to buy 18 of the combat jets. The first delivery is not expected for several years.

Washington has around 39,000 troops still in Iraq, down from a peak of about 170,000 during the war. Violence has dropped sharply from the sectarian bloodbath of 2006-07 when tens of thousands died.

As it tries to reintegrate itself into the region after years as a pariah, Iraq is warily eyeing neighbours such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Syria.

Iraqi leaders have accused neighbours of meddling, and U.S. military officials say Iran arms Shi’ite militias in Iraq.
“While we have no enemies, we also have no real friends,” the SIGIR report quoted Zebari as saying of the Iraqi government’s relations with its neighbours.