Coalition and Iraqi air force officials will gather for a series of conferences over the next few weeks to determine what airframes and other capabilities the nascent force should to add to its expanding portfolio, a senior defense official tells Inside the Air Force.

The conferences, slated to take place in “the next few weeks,” will focus on increasing the number of personnel in the nation's air force, the future procurement of new aircraft, and additional missions and responsibilities the force will take over from U.S. and coalition forces, Brig. Gen. Stephen Hoog, director of the air component coordination element of Multi-National Force-Iraq, said during a June 7 telephone interview. He also serves as the commander of the Coalition Air Force Transition Team (CAFTT), which answers to the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq for its efforts to stand up the Iraqi air force.

However, even as Iraqi personnel take on more responsibilities, U.S. and coalition air power will have to remain in place, even as American and coalition ground forces pull out, according to Hoog and other U.S. defense officials.

“I don't see the air presence leading the reduction, I see it lagging the reduction of the ground forces, a certain amount of time, months, years or so, so that it all consolidates in a well thought out, carefully orchestrated manner,” he said.

Hoog's comments echo those made by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley in February during an industry conference held just outside Orlando, FL (ITAF, Feb. 10, p9).

“We've been talking about this in the tank,” Moseley said in reference to the secure room within the Pentagon where senior leaders meet, commonly known as “the tank.”

Military leaders have examined how tactical air support has been provided to troops operating inside Afghanistan and Iraq, but added he is unsure whether lessons gleaned in recent years constitute a sufficient blueprint for Iraq after its own security forces take over. “I'm not sure that that'll give us the depth and robustness to be able to do this” in a similar manner in Iraq, the air chief said. He noted that during the senior-level discussions, officials have discussed “Army and Marine Corps partnership in this.”

While senior military leaders continue to debate how fire support will be called in to support Iraqi forces' security operations after U.S. troops leave that nation, they have yet to reach a final decision. In short, Moseley said senior leaders simply “don't know” at this point what the tactical air support policy for post-occupied Iraq will look like.

Hoog stressed that his organization's objective is in step with past comments by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other U.S. leaders who hope to scale back American military involvement in Iraq and once Iraqi forces are more self-reliant. ITAF last summer first reported on efforts to build a viable Iraqi air force (ITAF, July 29, 2005, p3).

“The overall goal right now in 2006 and 2007 is to transition capability” to the IAF, Hoog said.

ITAF first reported last August that service officials next month will begin a series of “defense strategy” meetings to develop a roadmap for the Iraqi air force (ITAF, Aug. 26, 2005, p1). Service brass also would plot the structure of the nascent force, determine the missions it will execute and analyze the capabilities it may require.

Hoog said one of the most significant decisions made during those meetings was the stand up of the CAFTT organization.

“Now you have an organization, a CAFTT organization, we have dedicated airmen who are embedded with the Iraqi air staff,” the one-star said. “We have an A-6 sitting next to their A-6 talking comm issues, air traffic control comm, radar networks, how we start doing the command and control of the airspace. An A-9 working issues in logistics, and A-2 working intel and all those things.”

The Iraqi air force currently has about 749 personnel. Of that number, 155 are pilots for the fleet's rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, according to Hoog. The remaining personnel include maintainers, air traffic controllers, security and logistics staff, he said.

ITAF reported last summer that the short-term goal was to swell that to about 1,500 within the next year. Hoog said that number is still the benchmark but added officials are looking to increase that figure slightly up to 2,000 within the next 12 months.

“We have a plan that takes it up from 1,500 to 2,000, to 2,900 that goes from fall to spring to the end of 2007,” he said, adding any personnel hikes will be discussed in the upcoming powwows and ultimately must by approved by the Iraqi MOD.

The CAFTT chief said the Iraqi air force has between 70 or 80 trainers but that number is set to ramp up to 125 by the end of this year as some of the airplanes the Iraqis have been waiting for arrive.

For example, the Iraqi air force received 16 UH-1H helicopters as a gift from Jordan. Those aircraft, however, had to be upgraded to the Huey II configuration to improve performance in Iraq's hot climate. Therefore, the “helicopter pilots here don't have airplanes to fly because all 16 of those airplanes went back state-side” for modifications, Hoog told ITAF.

Those helicopters will be ready for use at the very end of this year or early next year, he said. In addition, M-17 helicopters are in country but require modification. Those aircraft will begin flying this September, Hoog noted.

The one-star said the air component's overall training approach mirrors that of the ground forces, with coalition and U.S. personnel being embedded with Iraqi squadrons, dubbed “mission integration teams.”

The most mature air integration team is located at New Al Muthana in the southern portion of the nation. There, an Iraqi unit and a U.S. C-130 unit are operating together, according to Hoog. The least mature teams are the helicopter training teams because a bulk of the airframes slated to be assigned to those outfits required upgrades and other modifications, he continued. “A majority of the helicopter effort won't start until the fall of this year,” Hoog said.

In recent months, the Iraqi air force has used their fleet of a half-dozen C-130s airlifters to perform troop and supply movements. Another squadron in the city of Basrah in southern Iraq also conducts air surveillance, in particular along the country's southern oil pipelines and coast line in support of the Iraqi navy.

One crucial item on the agenda for the upcoming meetings is the procurement of new aircraft, especially an intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft that has been tapped to take the maiden voyage through the Iraqi MOD's newly constructed procurement process (see related story).

“We've already talked about the aircraft,” according to Hoog. “It's basically just bringing it up slowly for what they need to fight the current fight. It's not like they're going to add a whole new category of airplanes or anything. They're not going to buy air defense surface-to-air missile systems because they have no need to do so in the next few years.”

The CAFTT chief said all of the operational missions the Iraqi air force currently conducts are counter-insurgency efforts, particularly what officials call “infrastructure protection.”

“The number one interdiction targets for the insurgents, top two are probably the oil pipelines and the electrical power lines and towers,” he told ITAF, noting the pipeline surveillance missions being deployed from Basra are a prime example of such efforts. “The less oil they export, the less money Iraq has to build,” Hoog said.

Another key topic of discussion at the upcoming meetings will be the possibility of transferring operations of four bases in the still-volatile country over to Iraqi troops, he told ITAF.

“One of the things that they're discussing right now is will the Iraqi air force run Kirkuk Air Base all by itself when the Army and the Air Force pull out some time in the next 18 months?” Hoog asked. “And if so, then they need to [bolster] their manpower to do all those functions like guard the gate . . . feed people, have a computer network and all those things it takes to run a base.”

Those additional personnel were not included in the original plan of 1,500 to 1,600 airmen, he noted. Therefore, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense has to look at it and make a key decision: “Do [they] want to keep Kirkuk as an operating base? If the answer is yes then they'll plus up the manpower and equipment so they can start that transition,” the one-star said.

Another initiative being launched at Kirkuk is aimed at allowing Iraqis to take over air traffic control tasks.

“We have initiative to have the Iraqis start training side-by-side and begin to run the airspace at Kirkuk Air Base up in the north with the air traffic controllers and everything else would be another function that they would pick up as we go,” he noted. That effort is slated to kick off this month.

Additionally, the Iraqi MOD has secured funding to purchase the communications equipment necessary for the radars in the tower, Hoog said. That equipment will be installed in early calendar year 2007.

He said coalition and Iraqi air force officials also hope to have a casualty and medical evacuation mission stood up by the end of spring in 2007.

In terms of the Iraqi air force fleet, it has gained an additional three C-130s -- for a total of six -- and there is a possibility of acquiring three more, according to Hoog. Thus far eight Mi-17 helicopters have been delivered to the force, with two more on the way, he added.

Meantime, the air component's eight SAMA CH2000 airplanes have undergone testing and retrofitting after a fatal accident during the 2005 Memorial Day weekend, Hoog said. “We'll be making a decision here shortly whether or not we're going to fly [those aircraft] or see what other options are available.”

As the air fleet has expanded, adjustments to its infrastructure have been made, the CAFTT chief says.

For instance, the Iraqi air force's C-130 mission group has moved from a base near the city of Tadji to New Al Muthana and now operates independent of coalition partners.

“They've done some work to stand up a spot where they can work as a stand-alone airlift operation here,” Hoog said.

Meanwhile, personnel located at Tadji have been performing renovations in preparation for the arrival of the majority of the helicopter fleet, including a new air hangar that will house maintenance equipment, the one-star told ITAF.

In addition, the Iraqi Air Force Air Operations Headquarters is slated to move “about 400 yards” from the ground forces hub in Basra, which also serves as home to the CAFFT.

The Iraqi air and ground components will be located in such close proximity to conduct more of a day to to day integrated, synchronized ops than they were in the past,” according to Hoog. “That's just another example of how we're starting to transition things in the future.”

The goal by the end of next year is that both branches interact on a daily basis, the one-star said. He added that Iraqi air force's C-130s, have the potential for a casualty evacuation program, which will require close coordination between that force, and personnel in the joint operations center to “allocate the aircraft they need to get to the hot spots of the region; where the forward refueling points are going to be; [and] where the hospital for evacuation is going to be.”

Coalition forces also have made great strides in helping Iraqi force streamline the logistics for operations.

For example, a year ago “what would have happened is the U.S. Central Command's centralized deployment operations center in Kuwait would receive airlift request, and they might say, hey are there any Iraqi aircraft available?' And if there were they would then ask if it could fly and so it was kind of an indirect request method.”

However, the Iraqi navy recently had 28 divers that needed to be flown to another Middle Eastern state for training. The sea service put in a joint movement request to a joint operations centers, which approved the request and then sent it over to the air force.

Coalition forces began efforts to rebuild Iraq's air force with the intended goal that it would be capable of conducting nationwide counterinsurgency operations. However, since the initial focus of such efforts centered on ground forces, the planning for the air force was about a year behind (ITAF, July 29, 2005, p1).

Hoog said that progress since that time has been “a mixed result.”

“One of the things that you always have to remember is the Iraqi air force was a very large, powerful air force for a long time. People often think that we're starting from scratch, and by all means we're not,” he stated.

The one-star said Iraqi MOD officials have been successful at getting aviators to return to the force. “Obviously the catch is the age of some of the aviators and how long has it been since they've flown,” he noted, adding the average pilot age is 38 to 40 years old.

Hoog cited the Iraqi air force's Mi-17 helicopter fleet as an example. There were many pilots operating before the March 2003 invasion. Since then 25 pilots have been hired back but now must go through a re-qualification course prior to flying again.

Meanwhile, coalition and Iraqi officials are standing up a training “pipeline,” according to Hoog. “A brand-new lieutenant who enters the pipeline, at one end and comes out, that's a part we're still working in terms of getting an initial round of brand-new Iraqi pilots who have never flown airplanes before,” he said.

The one-star said coalition officials are in the process of trying to secure training funds so pilots can receive instruction in the United States or in Iraq's neighboring countries, such as Jordan.

Meantime, Hoog says, the Iraqi air force command structure is “basically a very flat, flat organization.”

“What you see is squadrons outside and the equivalent of maybe the air staff. They have the A-1 through 9 but it's a very small staff compared to anything else,” he told ITAF. “They have it very flat, it goes from the air staff right down through to the squadrons, and there aren't the wings because when a squadron has six or eight airplanes you don't have the big, multiple squadrons you're used to seeing. That's their vision is to grow back toward that base wing structure as time goes by.”

In addition, those squadrons and a headquarters staff are made smaller because they are located on bases where Iraqis do not have to provide the base support function.

Additionally, Iraqis are teamed with United Kingdom forces at Basra, while in the north at Kirkuk, Iraqis are co-located with the U.S. Army and Air Force personnel; and there is an Army aviation branch stationed at Tadji.

“They are basically surrounded by coalition forces,” the one-star noted.

Hoog told ITAF that the development of the Iraqi army should be ahead of the air force due to the nature of the counter-insurgency fight coalition partners are engaged in.

Yet as force transition missions and battlespace to Iraqi forces the need for air support will still exist, he noted.

“What I see us doing as we start to draw down the force is the amount of support will draw down of course but it will probably lag because as you might imagine having air overhead is that option of last resort,” Hoog said.