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Kirkuk ceremony marks transfer of navigational aids to Iraqi air force

  • Published
  • By Chuck Paone
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  A ceremony held at Kirkuk Air Base in Iraq Oct. 26 demonstrated the emerging independence of the Iraqi Air Force. 

The ceremony marked the official turnover of a suite of navigational aids provided by the Electronic Systems Center, headquartered here, through a first-of-its-kind foreign military sales effort, said Khalid Musameh, 853d Electronic Systems Group Iraq program manager. 

"This ceremony allows the Iraqi air force to show the Iraqi people that they are well on their way to becoming a real force," he said. 

The equipment, procured and installed over a two-year period, replaces the aging and often-malfunctioning equipment previously in place at Kirkuk. Similar 853 ELSG efforts are under way at Taji Air Base and at other air bases throughout the country, including Al Kut, where a large-scale effort similar to the one just completed at Kirkuk will be undertaken. 

During the ceremony, Maj. Gen. Robert Kane, director of the Iraq Training and Advisory Mission - Air Force, talked about the multi-party cooperation required to make this day happen.

"Our governments, air forces and civilian contractors cooperated to not only fund the purchase of this highly technical equipment, but to train the Iraqi air force personnel how to use it and maintain it," General Kane said. "I'm very proud to say that the Iraqi air force now possesses these capabilities. You now have full operational control of this new state-of-the-art, digital airport surveillance system."

Iraqi Air Force Communications Director Brig. Gen. Ahmed Ghani, also speaking at the ceremony, called it a "historic day," noting the value of the equipment in carrying out air traffic control and defense missions.

"Through that system, we will identify more ... aircraft entering our sovereignty," he said. 

Here at ESC, program managers are gratified by the Iraqi response to their efforts. 

"It's very rewarding to see how proud the Iraqis are to be accepting this equipment," said Brian Schultz, director of the 853 ELSG's Foreign Military Sales division. 

Group officials began work in 2007 to provide an ASR-11 Digital Airport Surveillance Radar and associated automation system at Kirkuk. To meet the urgent warfighter need on this case, the group managed to accelerate the ASR-11 installation from four years down to less than two. 

"This is the fastest implementation of an ASR-11 that we've ever heard of," Mr. Musameh said. 

And it occurred despite the fact that conducting this work in Iraq was difficult at first. 

"It was not easy to even get simple information about the conditions we had to work in," said Mr. Musameh. "We also had to address other issues, such as the availability of base support, use of local contractors, frequency management, and shipping," all while operating in a war zone. 

However, through a combination of persistence, lots of communication and risk management, the team eventually managed to move along quite rapidly, he said.  Key contributions from deploying military members also made a huge difference. 

"This was a genuine team effort," Mr. Musameh said. "We used military members throughout the 653d Wing to deploy to the bases, and we had so many volunteers that we had to give people a rain check for future Iraq projects." 

The efforts at Kirkuk and Taji were the first FMS cases the center took on in support of Iraq, Mr. Schultz said. Designed to provide some immediate needs, the effort preceded a more comprehensive 2008 Iraqi Air Sovereignty Master Plan, conducted by ESC's International Operations Division. 

That FMS work has now paved the way for a host of follow-on efforts being conducted by both the 853d and the 350 ELSG, which is working to provide air defense, command and control and air sovereignty solutions for the Iraqi air force. That means similar ceremonies may be on tap for the months and years ahead. 

The official turnover ceremony held this week added concrete proof of a cooperative process many doubted at the outset. 

"We had a lot of skeptics when we started these projects two years ago, especially since we'd committed to delivering the capabilities on an accelerated schedule," said Col. Tim Nickerson, deputy commander of the 853d. "The cooperation and commitment from all parties, including the in-country coalition team, were key factors in pulling this off. Of course there were lessons learned, but we established a sound execution model that we can build on during upcoming projects."

Staff Sgt. Daniel Martinez, 506th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs, contributed to this report.