.257B for Iraqi Army Guns, Vehicles & Logistics

by defenseindustrydaily Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007 at 1:34 PM

On Sept 25/07, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced Iraq's formal request for vehicles, small arms, ammunition, explosives, and communications equipment as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as .257 billion.

07-Oct-2007 20:45

In September 2006, "Up to 0M in Weapons & Support for Iraq" described Iraq's order for a number of American small arms, as well as helicopters and blast resistant vehicles. About a year later, we have a follow-on order that extends a number of the trends that request started. While the temptation exists to focus on the helicopters, blast-resistant vehicles, small arms, et. al., that would be a mistake. This is an extremely important contract for Iraq's armed forces, and none of those systems are the reason why.

On Sept 25/07, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced Iraq's formal request for vehicles, small arms, ammunition, explosives, and communications equipment as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as .257 billion. The request includes:

123,544 M16A4 Rifles.

12,035 M4 Carbines, a shorter version of the M16 widely used by US forces.

Ammuntition

100 million rounds M855 5.56 Ball

20 million rounds 5.56mm Tracer

16.7 million rounds 5.56mm Blank

5.7 million rounds 5.56mm 4 Ball/1 Tracer

5.7 million rounds 7.62mm 4 Ball/1 Tracer

13.6 million rounds 7.62mm Ball Long

5.8 million rounds 9mm Ball

890,000 rounds 12 Gauge 00 Buckshot

790,000 rounds .50 Caliber 4 Ball/1 Tracer

10,000 40mm HEDP Grenades

32,000 60mm High Explosive Mortar Rounds

32,000 60mm Illumination Rounds

5,000 81mm High Explosive Mortar Rounds

5,000 81mm Illumination Rounds

7,000 Signal Flares

7,300 Stun Grenades

6,700 HC Smoke Grenades

Communication towers

Troposcatter and Microwave radios, IDN, DPN, VSAT

Operations and Maintenance

1,518 VHF Wheeled Tactical and Base Station Radios

4,800 VHF hand-held radios

6,490 VHF man pack radios

IqAF Hueys

The request is also busy on the vehicle and support infrastructure front. In fact, the large amount of support equipment is one of the most important features of this contract. As Up to 0M in Weapons & Support for Iraq" noted:

"DID summarizes those requests below, but it's worth noting that they represent an evolution. For the last few years, the US approach has focused on building up the Iraqi Army's fighting capacity. Native logistics and support was less important than rifles on the ground, for obvious reasons, and US forces could and do fulfil those support functions. These contracts include a number of provisions for training Iraqi personnel in these back-end tasks, however, as well as equipping them."

That September 2006 request began the process of setting up the support and logistics back-end for Iraqi forces. This request begins a serious push to give Iraqi forces full independent operational capability, by building out the army's logistics and supply train. Vehicles and infrastructure requested include:

Upgrade and refurbishment of 32 additional UH-I HUEY helicopters to the UH-II configuration; this would give the IqAF 64 total helicopters, given their 16 upgraded Jordanian Hueys, and their 0 million August 2007 DSCA request for 16 more out of US stocks;

336 BTR-3E1 amphibious armored personnel carries, built by an international consortium led by the United Arab Emirates' ADCOM MANUFACTURING Company Ltd. WLL, in partnership with Ukrainian firms Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau, and the State Scientific Technical Centre of Artillery & Rifle Arms. Jane's describes the BTR-3 as: "a more recent design [than the BTR-80] with a raised roof for greater internal volume… powered by a locally developed UTD-20 diesel coupled to a manual transmission. Armament consists of the Shturm combat module armed with a locally produced 30mm ZTM-1 cannon, 40mm automatic grenade launcher, 7.62mm machine gun and twin launcher for Barrier ATGW with a maximum range of 5,500m. The vehicle is fully amphibious, being propelled in the water at a speed of 8-10km/h." It has been sold to 8 countries, including Thailand.

55 ILAV 'Badger' blast-resistant Route Clearing Vehicles, derived from the Cougar.

980 M1151 High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV)

189 Armored Land Cruisers

10 Armored Mercedes

1,815 Light utility trucks

70 Fire trucks

40 Fuel trucks

20 Septic trucks

45 Water trucks

112 Motorcycles

1,425 Sedans

600 5-Ton Trucks. Note that "5-ton truck" is the load rating, not the vehicle's total weight which is higher

600 Medium Trucks

400 8-Ton Trucks

400 12-Ton trucks

100 16-35 Ton Trucks

20 35-Ton Trucks (20)

105 Contact Maintenance Trucks

122 Ambulances

127 11-Passenger Buses

207 24-Passenger Buses

80 44-Passenger Buses

33 Bulldozers

10 Excavators

20 Wheeled Loaders

10 Variable Reach Forklifts

19 Wreckers w/Boom

447 5Kw generators

34 Fuel Pumps

Clothing and individual equipment

Standard and non-standard vehicle spare and repair parts, maintenance, support equipment, publications and documentation; personnel training and training equipment; Quality Assurance Team support services, U.S. Government and contractor engineering and logistics support services, preparation of aircraft for shipment, and other related elements of logistics support.

The contractors are unknown at this time, and there are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale. Implementation of this proposed sale will not require the assignment of any additional U.S. Government and contractor representatives to Iraq.

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2257b-for-iraqi-army-guns-vehicles-logistics-03945/

Original: $2.257B for Iraqi Army Guns, Vehicles & Logistics